Itachi blinked his eyes open and looked around. He thought he'd heard a muffled shout coming from Boruto and Sarada's room, and at first had dismissed it, but when he heard thumping around, and more shouting, he jumped out of bed and ran out his door.

He wasn't sure what to expect. So when he saw Deidara with a bound and gagged Sarada hanging over his shoulder, ready to jump out the window, he panicked.

"Well well well, look what the cat dragged in." Deidara grinned creepily. "Hi there, Itachi-san, un."

"Deidara." Itachi looked at Sarada. She seemed unharmed, but did have tears and worry brimming in her eyes. "What are you doing here, and what do you want with my niece?"

Deidara chuckled, glancing at Sarada. "Oh, this girl? Well you see, after Zetsu overheard your little conversation in the woods, I figured she would be a good person to go for to hurt you. Plus, Pein-sama wants her."

Oh right. Itachi had seen the little, 'Tobi is a good bay!' And 'Sui-san heard something, Deidara-senpai' scene before Boruto came in, and he'd seen Zetsu and Tobi walk into the woods. But he'd practically ignored them, and focused his energies on saving his little brother's companions and family.

Not smart. Not smart at all. Itachi cursed himself for being so unintelligent. It was common knowledge that you don't turn your back on the enemy. He should've been paying attention. Deidara was one of the more idiotic members of the Akatsuki, yes, but Itachi of all people should've known he'd be at least a little bit more clever. He was a genius, and was extra good at spotting and removing traps, so that explained how he got here. His special eye was also a big help.

"Deidara," Itachi sighed. "I know you've had it out for me... ever since, well, the fight we had when I recruited you, but my niece has nothing to do with your personal vendetta. It would be unnecessary to add in another player to a game you're already losing."

"I see." Deidara looked thoughtful. Then he nodded. "I don't care. Did you not hear a single word I said, un? Pein-sama wants her to question. This has nothing to do with my, as you call it, personal vendetta."

"Question?" Itachi couldn't resist asking. He knew he probably wasn't going to get an in depth answer, but it was worth a try.

"Oh yes. We Akatsuki want to know if we rule the world in the future. If we don't, we change our actions, un." Deidara smirked, leaning on the window frame. Sarada struggled some more, and Deidara held her still. Itachi would go over and get her, but Deidara was already halfway out the window. He'd disappear if he saw Itachi even twitch. Itachi was fast, yes, but one would have to be as fast as the Yondaime to get out of this situation. "If your niece, whom I'm guessing is Sasuke-chan's daughter from the future, right? If your niece cooperates, she doesn't get hurt. If she does, we'll get what we want, and when we're done with her.... eh, we might kill her. You never know with Leader."

Itachi frowned, walking up to his old Akatsuki teammate. "Why are you talking about all of this in the future tense, as if its going to happen? I just stopped you."

"Because it is going to happen." Deidara began falling apart and Sarada screamed some more before her body fell apart too.

"Clay!" Itachi cursed. How did he not see this coming??? He not only KNEW Deidara, he also knew they were going to try to take her. He had just been so worried about Sarada, he let her get away.

Itachi swiftly jumped out the window, but not before a sleepy Naruto walked into the room. "Itachi-san, what is going on?" He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Naruto." Itachi spoke up, making Naruto get a serious look in his eye. "Sarada was just kidnapped by Deidara."

Naruto's eyes widened as much as they could and he got an angry look on his face. His eyes then narrowed to slits. "What do you want me to do." He asked, looking at Boruto to see if he was okay.

Deidara apparently hadn't seen him, he was half under the blanket, so he was fine.

"Wake up Sasuke, and tell him to meet me at the old Uchiha hideout. Got it?" Itachi glared out into the darkness. He could faintly see the moving silhoutettes of Deidara and his niece running away. He was wasting time talking with the blonde.

"Hai!" Naruto saluted and ran down the hallway screaming, "TEEEMMEEE, TIME TO WAKE UP!!!"

Itachi shook his head and ducked out the window.

I'm coming, Sarada, just hold on.

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Sasuke had been having a pretty good morning when Naruto woke him up. He'd fallen asleep next to Sakura and had gotten to smell her cherry blossom shampoo all night, he'd had an okay dream, for once, and he was pretty sure he'd felt Sakura stroking his hair.

He might insist he was completely opposed to that, but oh no he was not. Not only did it feel good, it was Sakura that did it. Not Karin, who somehow appeared in the morning and loved messing with his hair. That took years of practice and every ounce of self control he had not to Chidori her. She was his teammate. Plus, his team kind of needed a medical ninja.

But not Sakura. Oddly, it felt right for her to do that. Like she belonged with him.

Sasuke dismissed that thought as quickly as it came. Then it came back again.

"TEEEMMEEEE!! TIME TO WAKE UP!!!" Naruto shouted, busting down the door. Sakura shot up and glared at Naruto.

"Shut up!!" Sakura scowled. "Do you know how rare it is for him to sleep like this???"

"I don't give a flying fůck about how well he's sleeping right now, I'm concerned about how well Sarada is sleeping in an Akatsuki cell!!!"

And Sasuke was up. "What?!"

"Sarada. She was just kidnapped by Deidara." Naruto added, jumping on the couch and shaking Sasuke and Sakura in turn.

Sasuke felt the world crash down around him. His vision turned black for a few seconds, and he had to blink to fix it. "My Sarada?"

"What other Sarada do you know???" Naruto scowled. "Itachi-san went after her. He said we were supposed to meet him at the old Uchiha Hideout you almost destroyed."

Sasuke jumped up and turned to Sakura, who just stared in shock. "Sakura, you stay here and take care of Boruto and the others. Suigetsu and Karin aren't even close to ready to use chakra right now. Juugo can come with me... if I can wake him up... Naruto, you'll come with me because I can't really stop you--"

"Excuse me?" Sakura turned to Sasuke with a demonic look on her face. He felt the urge to apologize, even though he wasn't quite certain what he did. "Did you just tell me to stay here?"

Naruto winced at Sasuke. 'YOU'RE SCREWED.'

'Yes i am, thank you for notcing.' Sasuke mouthed.

"SASUKE UCHIHA. YOU SHUT UP RIGHT NOW." Sakura screeched. "SARADA IS MY FUTURE DAUGHTER, AND I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY, I'M HELPING YOU SAVE HER!"

Sasuke winced as her fist came flying through the air, enveloped in green chakra. He knew enough about her that if he took that hit, it would crack his skull at least.

Huh. So this is what it's like to be Naruto. Sasuke winced at the thought, but another fist came at him. I think I want to go back to being Sasuke RIGHT NOW!!!

"OI, SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto saved him. He loved the show, but was worried about Sarada. He had started to like her as soon as he figured out he was Teme and Sakura-chan's daughter, and her personality had only helped his opinion of her. "Time to go! Remember Sarada?"

"Let's go." Sasuke scowled.

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Sarada shook herself awake. She was in a dark room, tied to a chair, a spotlight trained on her face. She blinked rapidly, trying to shake the sleep from her eyes.

What the....

Oh.

Sarada looked around, surveying her surroundings as Konohamaru-sensei would tell her to do. Dark, wet... no windows. Door in the far corner. It smelled kind of musty and earthy. She was underground. Sarada shivered in her nightclothes. Silk shorts and a silk shirt with the uchiwa fan on the back. Also cold. She added to the list of words to describe the place.

There was a dark blue sweatshirt with the Uchiha crest on the back laying on her lap, and she reached for it, finding that her hands were freed. She did have thick bracelets on her wrist, which she recognized as chakra cuffs.

She tried to stand up, maybe pace a little, get some warmth back into her body, but her ankles were tied to the legs of the cold metal chair. Also chakra cuffed. They didn't drain chakra, luckily, just bound it. Her hands were pretty mobile, but she couldn't undo the ankle chains.

"Okay, Sarada, you've got this." Sarada sighed, looking around again. "Think."

She wished she knew where she was. What time it was. Where her parents were. How Boruto was doing. She wanted to get Boruto, and go home.

But she didn't know where she was. Or what time it was. Or where her parents were, how Boruto was doing. She wasn't home.

It was tedious. She counted the minutes, that was the only thing she knew. She wasn't aware of the time, but she knew how long she had been there. 50 minutes and 34 seconds. And that was just how long she was awake.

Then, the large metal door in the far corner opened. "Ahh, Sarada-chan is awake, I see." A blue man with a creepy grin came inside. "Hi. I'm Hoshigaki Kisame, your... uncle, you say? Your uncle's partner. How are you?"

Sarada raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her hoodie. "You know Sai-jii?"

"No...?" Kisame seemed confused. "U--"

"Uzumaki Naruto-jii?"

"No!" Kisame replied, "Your uncle--"

"Suigetsu-jii-san?"

"Uch--" Sarada interrupted him again.

"Juugo-jii?"

"No--"

"Shikamaru-jii?"

"NO!" Kisame sighed. "Stop playing games with me, Sarada-chan. I'm your uncle Itachi Uchiha's partner. Now I need to ask you some questions."

"None of which you'll get the answers to." Sarada smirked, pretending to be more confident than she was. She was in the belly of a dangerous organization that went extinct before she was born. She had no idea of the terrain, or how she would escape. She didn't know where she was. "So don't bother asking."

"Ah, but you see, it's my job, Sarada-chan." Kisame looked at her as if she interested him greatly. "Now, can I ask you a question or two?"

"Sure." Sarada was silent. She stared at him expectantly.

"What?" Kisame asked.

"That was your question. You may leave now." Sarada smirked some more.

Kisame scowled, then sighed. "Great, now I owe Deidara 800 bucks."

"Why?"

"He bet you were a smartāss like your uncle and father. I bet you got your mom's traits. How could you let me down like that, Sarada-chan?" Kisame seemed to be pouting. Sarada rolled her eyes. Some dangerous criminal he is. Is my uncle the only competent one in the Akatsuki?? No... I should stay on my guard. Mama said they were extremely dangerous.

"I'm so, so sorry my attitude doesn't suit your financial needs, Kisame-san." Sarada replied sarcastically.

Kisame sighed. "You're too much like your family."

"So I've been told." Sarada rolled her eyes again. She had had this same conversation with multiple people. It was tiring to have it again. "Many, many times. Now, do you have any reason for this, or am I here for nothing?"

"Yes, Sarada, we just went through all that trouble finding and kidnapping you for no reason." Kisame scowled.

"And you call me a smartāss." Sarada smiled at Kisame. "Tell Deidara-san to split the money for me, since I'm the reason he'd getting payed anyway. So, Kisame-jii, you have questions for me?"

That shocked him. "Um... yeah..." He looked at the clipboard he had brought with him.

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The man opened his eyes. He blinked around, then squinted his eyes. He couldn't see much, but there was a cloaked figure in front of him. "Where am I?" His voice sounded croaky. He hadn't had water in awhile.

"Hello." Someone else said. The man looked at him, extremely confused.

"What happened? Where am I?" The man asked, feeling wary of the other man in front of him. He wasn't someone that could be trusted, and the man knew that.

"The Akatsuki hide out. You died." The other man smirked. "Welcome to the club."

"Akatsuki?" The man narrowed his eyes. "What am I doing here?"

"We need you to do something for us." The untrustworthy one looked down at the table in front of the two of them.

"Hn?"

"We need you to talk to a relative of yours." The untrustworthy one smirked. "Can we enlist your... special skill set to help us?"

The man looked at the other he'd deemed untrustworthy. "What do you need me to do?"

"Interrogate Sarada Uchiha."