Itachi smiled warmly at her, giving her the urge to smile back. "So are you gonna give your uncle a hug?" 

She obliged, trying not to think about how that sounded a lot like what her father had said this morning. His hug was warm, and Sarada felt safe there for the first time in a while. He reminded her a lot of her father, so she was comfortable around him.

Then something was wrong. Uncle Itachi squinted to see her, and she felt his chakra suddenly get weak. Now, he was leaning on her more than he was hugging her. Sarada looked at him, and felt gut-punched when she realized he'd gotten a million times more pale, and his ebony eyes seemed to be staring off into space. 

"Uncle Itachi, are you okay?" She asked as she helped him sit down. 

"No, I don't think so." He touched his forehead and looked away from Sarada, an unhappy look on his face. "I have a disease that might be the cause of my death. I'll probably still die today."

"Like hell." Sarada snarled, coming closer to her uncle. She dropped to her knees next to him and tried desperately to remember all lessons her mother gave her on healing. "I worked too hard to stop Papa from killing you before. I'm not just gonna let you go now." Her assessing eyes worked their way around him, noting that his eyes seemed to be squinting, like he couldn't see very well. She had no idea what was up with that, because her Father never had this problem, so she leaned over his head, concerned. 

Then the other four people noticed that Itachi was laying down and Sarada was crouching over him and came over, confused. Sasuke was carried over by Naruto, who wasn't convinced the Uchiha wouldn't try to run away yet. 

"Sarada, what is happening?" Sasuke asked, getting a little bit of sadistic excitement out of the fact that his nii-san was laying on the floor. Maybe Itachi would die today after all, even though he had failed at his original method of completing the deed. A bummer that he couldn't get his revenge, but at least he'd still get to see him die.

"Why didn't you tell me he was sick?!" She snapped at Sasuke, making him look at Boruto, confused. Boruto shrugged, he had no idea what Sarada was talking about half the time. Now was one of those times.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, staring as green medical chakra began pumping out of her hands and she put them over her uncle's Akatsuki cloak. She's a medical ninja...? That explains why the gash she got on her foot yesterday is gone now... Itachi was breathing irregularly, and coughing hard. There was blood dribbling down his chin. Sarada's eyebrows furrowed, her eyes flashing with determination. Sasuke ignored how much she looked like his mother in that moment, his eyes moving to Itachi's cloak.

"Your brother is dying." Sarada said harshly, pointing one of her hands down at Itachi. She glared at Sasuke like he'd done something wrong. "And he hasn't even told you the truth yet. If I were you, I would be more worried about Itachi-ojii-san."

"Uncle Itachi?" Naruto asked, looking more confused, somehow. "Did you just say Uncle Itachi?"

"Yes." Sarada hissed, pumping more chakra to her fists. She couldn't worry about her slip up now. The truth was going to come out eventually. For now, Itachi was still dying. She wouldn't let that happen- her father was too sad about this in her timeline. "Boruto and I will explain once Itachi-ojii-san isn't dying."

"Why are you saving this murderer?" Sasuke choked, enraged. Killing intent was practically oozing off of him. "He killed our family."

"You're one to talk." Sarada scowled at him from where she was working on saving her uncle. "How many people have you killed, Papa? Just like you would've killed me and Uncle Itachi not long ago."

"So are we just dropping the act now?" Boruto asked, his mind still working to catch up with the current events.

"Yes." Sarada sighed at her teammate, working harder on Itachi. If she didn't save him, it would change nothing, and she really wanted to change this event. "Sakura, can you help me here?"

The med-nin was shaken out of her trance and dropped to her knees to help out. She was back in her element, healing was where she performed best. So in all the confusion, she was still functioning. Probably the only one aside from Sarada, honestly. 

Naruto and Sasuke looked at the two kids as if they were aliens. "Did you just say Papa?!" Naruto asked incredulously, looking at Sasuke, then Sarada, then Sasuke again.

"Yes!" Sarada said. "Now be useful, and shut up!" She added quite rudely. She didn't mean to come off as mean, but they were still talking while she was trying to concentrate. She wasn't her mother, and this was taking a lot out of her. In all honesty, while she was helping, Sakura was doing all the hard work. Medical ninjutsu was ridiculously hard. A new wave of respect for her mother nearly knocked Sarada over. Or maybe that was just exhaustion. 

"Sarada," Boruto told her. "Don't be mean, he's an idiot, but he's still my shitty old man."

"HUH??" Naruto and Sasuke asked at the same time. They sounded so smart at that moment. 

"I have no idea what's going on here, but if you all want to save Itachi-san, Sarada and I need to focus on our patient. Your unnecessary remarks are... unnecessary." Sakura said from her place next to the Uchiha heiress. She got a look of determination in her face that mirrored Sarada's. She might not like this guy for what he did to Sasuke, and for betraying the village, but he was now her patient, and to hell if she let her patients die. "But later on, you owe us a fully detailed explanation, missy." She spoke to Sarada in her mom tone of voice that she didn't even know she had.

Sarada remained quiet, only looked at Boruto with a silent question.

Boruto sighed and nodded. "No kidding." He responded to Sakura, rubbing the back of his neck and chuckling awkwardly.

And that was the answer.

《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》

Once Itachi-jii was in stable condition, Sarada sat back against a tree and sighed in relief. She had used an incredible amount of chakra, and was exhausted. Medical ninjutsu was no joke. Her mother always made it seem so easy, but Sarada could barely heal a cut without being totally worn out. She was better at it now, and that came through when they were healing the nerves behind Itachi's eyes, but she was still tired.

"What did you mean, 'Papa'?" Sasuke asked Sarada, running a hand through his hair. Sarada just looked at her younger father wearily. 

Sakura, however, was her same energetic self. She was used to medical ninjutsu and was all around amazing, Sarada thought. She was only a couple years older than Sarada right now. "Everyone shut up so Sarada and Boruto can explain."

Sarada inhaled deeply, then coughed to get everyone's attention. Everyone who was conscious looked at her expectantly. 

"We're from the future." She said bluntly and mentally prepared for a flood of questions. It would take a lot of patience to get though this, and they still needed to go home and face their parents. She shuddered. 

"NANI??"

"What are you talking about, Sarada?"

"Do I marry Sakura-chan!?" That one was definitely Naruto. He still didn't realize that Hinata was in love with him, and was just overall an oblivious, lovable idiot. 

"If you'll all shut up, Boruto will explain." Sarada calmed them down, deflecting their questions to Boruto easily. She was still recovering, so she had a right to deflect. She didn't even feel guilty. 

"EH??" Boruto whirled to look at her, feeling cheated by his teammate. "Why me?" He would have to tell the whole story, therefore... telling on himself to his dad. Maybe he was younger, but he was still Naruto. Sarada was evil. 

"Because it's your fault we're in this situation in the first place, dobe." Sarada hissed, nudging his knee hard with her elbow. 

Boruto's eyes widened at her, he buckled briefly, before rubbing his knee. His blue eyes narrowed at the challenge. "Who are you calling dobe, teme?!"

"You. And don't call me teme." Sarada countered. This was why the two of them never got along. "What happened to not ruining my birthday?!" 

Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto exchanged knowing glances, then listened as the two argued like an old married couple. Which basically summed up the entirety of Naruto and Sasuke's relationship, in Sakura's point of view. 

"So," Sakura yawned, getting a bit tired of having to play the mediator all the time. "Are you two gonna stop bickering like Sasuke and Naruto and explain?"

"Oh, right, sorry." Boruto blushed at Sakura, who he thought was actually really pretty when she was younger. "Right. Well, it all started when I stole a scroll from my dad when I went to get Sarada's music box. I met up with Sarada to wish her a happy birthday and give her her present, and then she got all nosy and asked what the scroll was--"

"You were the one being nosy and looking through your dad's stuff!" Sarada scoffed and folded her arms to her chest. "Don't you dare make me look like the bad guy here!"

"Continue." Sasuke looked at Sarada impatiently, tapping his foot on the ground to emphasize his point. 

"Right, sorry. So when I got the scroll out, we thought--"

"YOU thought." Sarada interrupted again.

"I thought that it would be a good idea to open it, just to get tou-san more mad at me... and Sarada tried to stop me..." He said, lowering his voice on that part. "And then abracadabra we went back in time and ended up here, dattebasa!" He finished, glaring at Sarada when she elbowed him again. "Oi! Uncalled for!"

"Okay, that's all well and good, but who the heck are you guys? You still haven't explained fully, we just got the edited explanation." Naruto asked Boruto and Sarada.

"You know our names. You're smart people, figure it out yourself." Sarada said arrogantly, snickering at how slow they were. They'd layed out all the hints and still her parents from the past were struggling. It took them a bit. 

"Okay, I'd know that smirk anywhere. You're Sasuke's relative aren't you?" Naruto gasped, looking over at Itachi and Sasuke sneakily. "Are you Itachi's daughter?"

"Are you insane?" Sarada laughed bitterly at Naruto's suggestion. She was Sasuke's daughter, and she figured it would be really obvious, but apparently Lord Seventh wasn't always as respectable and smart as he is in her lifetime. "Itachi is dead in my world. But I just saved him now, which must've changed something..." 

"Okay, I've decided that my otou-san is a moron." Boruto whispered to Sarada, not going unheard by Naruto, who pouted, and Sasuke, who snickered.

"HEY, THAT'S-- wait a minute... did you just say otou-san?" Naruto froze. Boruto rolled his eyes. He'd had this conversation with Naruto a few minutes ago, and was honestly so done with this whole trip. 

"Yeah, this is your son from the future." Sarada said, using her now-mastered famous Uchiha smile. "Apparently the idiocy runs in the family." She knew Boruto was pretty smart, since the two of them were usually rivals, but they both had moments where Sarada questioned their IQ.

"HEY!" The two Uzumaki shouted indignantly. Naruto stomped his foot, and Boruto crossed his arms. They looked almost exactly alike, except for Boruto was shorter. 

"Apparently cockiness is in the family for you, Sasuke." Sakura said, gesturing at Sarada. Sasuke looked at her blankly, then looked back at Sarada.

"Are you saying this really is my daughter?" He snorted, sounding skeptical.

"Uh huh." Sakura said, resisting the urge to laugh at the boy's stupidity. It was something she did quite often, now, actually. Sarada did the same, thinking it through. He pretended he was so much better than Naruto, but really the two of them- well... there was a reason they were friends. Even though they pretended not to be, and probably weren't now.

"Yeah, she is, Uncle Sasuke." Boruto shuddered. "And the two of you are assholes..." he muttered. Just his luck. Sasuke AND Sarada heard that.

"EH??? ARE YOU BEGGING FOR A BROKEN BODY, DOBE?"

"Ursuratonkachi." Sasuke looked at Naruto, "Ursuratonkachi number 2." He looked at Boruto.

"OI, SHUT UP, TEME, 'TTEBAYO!" Naruto shouted angrily.

"Mmm hmm." Sasuke intoned boredly. He turned slightly on his knees to look at Sarada. "So you're my future daughter, huh?"

"Hn." She replied, nodding. Sasuke decided he liked her because it seemed like she could be violent, yet intelligent. Unlike certain people. "You're taking this pretty well, actually."

"You're almost exactly like Sasuke." Sakura laughed breathlessly, looking back and forth between the two of them. "That's crazy!"

Just then, Boruto decided to be a brat and poked Sarada in the shoulder. 

Her eyes flashed and she smiled scarily, her fists glowing blue. "SHANNAROOO!" She shouted viciously, punching Boruto so he flew back 10 feet into a tree.

"I think I might know who your mother is..." Naruto chuckled nervously, eyeing Sakura out of the corner of his eye.

"Me too..." Sasuke looked at Sakura. He winced, and looked back at the floor. He didn't not like Sakura, when they were on a genin team together, but he knew that she was off limits until after he killed Itachi and got his revenge. Apparently... maybe she did really feel for him the way she told him she did, and waited until he returned. If he even did. 

Sarada wiped her hands and sat down next to her passed out Uncle again. She looked at him, then sighed quietly, before turning back to the people that were still gathered around. Honestly, all she wanted to do was go to sleep too. "Okay. Do you have any more questions?"

"Please explain... I got married to Sakura?" Sasuke asked, still a little surprised. His mind was only just putting this together, and he was still processing it. 

"Huh?" Sakura looked over, confused. She'd been tending to Boruto before, you know, since he was swung into a tree and whatnot, but now the blonde was completely forgotten.

"Thanks for fixing me up, Aunt Sakura." Boruto smiled at her, and she nodded back, a little confused. Sasuke looked at Sakura's adorable smile and he couldn't help but think that his future self did pretty good for himself. 

"Uh, yeah, you actually do get married to Sakura." Sarada rolled her eyes as if they were both idiots. "Like you two weren't completely in love anyway."

Sakura blushed, while Sasuke glared at her. How dare she assume Sasuke was just in love like some kind of schoolgirl.

"Sarada-chan, you've got it all wrong. Teme here isn't capable of love." Naruto smirked at the Uchiha, who glared at him.

"That's bull. You love me and Mama in the future." Sarada pointed out to her father, catching his eyes.

"I don't even know you. And I don't love your mother now." Sasuke said coldly, glaring at everyone who dared to look at him. Sarada's eyebrows raised in surprise. Sakura looked used to the rejection, while Sarada looked at her father with wide eyes. She has always been used to a semi doting father while he was around. This was very different.

"Oh shoot." Boruto whispered. "Uncle Sasuke is gonna go under again..."

"'Go under'?" Naruto asked his son. "What's that supposed to mean, 'ttebayo?"

"It's this thing only Sarada can do... Uncle Sasuke just completely loses his cold attitude." Boruto shrugged. "No one knows how she does it."

"Will it work on this Sasuke?" Sakura whispered to the two boys.

"He's still Sasuke, right?" Boruto whispered back to his pretty aunt. "It should."

Then the three of them sat back to watch the show. Sarada's eyes only grow wider, the dark eyes beginning to suck everyone's attention. Sasuke winced slightly, and seemed to be fighting it. Then Sarada's eyes filled up with sadness, giving her a brokenhearted expression. She looked like a sad puppy.

"No way is teme gonna fall for that," Naruto said, "He's too... emotionless. He won't care if a little girl is crying."

"How do you know?" Boruto asked.

"He beat up Naruto and left him to die." Sakura narrowed her eyes at Sasuke, remembering how Naruto was when he arrived back in Konoha. "Trust me, he won't care if Sarada cries."

"We'll see..." Boruto fished out his frog-shaped wallet that used to belong to Naruto. "Wanna bet?"

"Boruto, do you by any chance know a Tsunade Senju?" Sakura asked suspiciously.

"Oh, yeah! Baa-chan loves me to death." He grinned. "She taught me and Sarada how to gamble."

"He was taught by the Legendary Sucker?" Naruto whispered to Sakura sneakily. The two of them grinned at the money they would get. "We're gonna win this bet."

While that was happening, Sasuke was experiencing conflicted emotions. Even though his emotionless side said not to concern himself with this crying girl, a part of him wanted to hug her and let her cry into him. He caught himself scooting closer to her and almost smacked himself. He didn't know what was up with him, and he didn't like it. Damn it, what is wrong with me? He asked himself, looking down at his hands.

His former teammates and Boruto were bickering, but unbeknownst to them, Itachi was waking up and watching the whole scene play out with curiosity in his eyes. He sat up slightly, waiting for Sasuke to do something. Then her eyes got to him, and Sasuke couldn't do it anymore. He patted her on the head very rapidly, then went back to his stoic expression. Sarada smirked triumphantly, her fake tears disappearing.

"It was fake?" Sasuke scowled.

"Works every time." Sarada sang, laughing in a way that made Sasuke want to smile a little. 

What is wrong with me? He asked himself miserably. On the bright side, she also got his charm. The girl was like him in more ways than one. Hn. "I suppose I could learn to like you." He muttered bitterly, feeling like he wanted to Chidori this girl for making him feel feelings again. "I can't kill you because you're the future of the Uchiha clan."

Sakura glared at him. "Touch her, you die." She couldn't allow him to kill innocent children. Never mind that this was her daughter. 

"That'll be 200 bucks, dad." Boruto smirked. "I told you, I know how to bet."

"Beginners luck." Naruto grumbled as he and Sakura both paid up. "That was my ramen money you just took." He shook his head disapprovingly.

Boruto snickered. "Good riddance. More for my burgers. Maybe I'll buy a video game with this."

"That's horrible of you!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm your father, dattebayo!"

"Crappy one, too." Boruto muttered, and Naruto finally remembered what he'd said at the beginning, before he was Naruto's boy.

"I'm sure I love you very much in the future." Naruto grinned goofily and ruffled Boruto's hair. "I would now, if I had one of you. But I'm too young for that, believe it!"

Suddenly Itachi sat upright. "I'm afraid we need to leave." He remarked seriously, all hint of joking aside. "And we need to leave now."