"Erm.... hi, Mama," Sarada smiled sheepishly. Itachi walked in after her, shutting the door quietly so he wouldn't attract the attention of the pink haired girl. "How are you?"

"Angry." Sakura scowled, grabbing Sarada by the hand and dragging her inside. "Did future me raise you to be so brash?? Just so you know, you're grounded for life."

Sarada sighed, but wasn't surprised. "Yeah, kinda figured that."

"Are you TALKING BACK TO ME???"

"NO, NO OF COURSE NOT, SAKURA!"

Itachi watched, overall amused at his future niece's reaction to her mother. The pink haired woman was intimidating indeed. He understood now that Sakura was the one who kept that family in line. Sakura led them into the kitchen and past that to the dining room, where everyone was yelling at each other.

Then Sasuke noticed Sarada. "Sarada," he sighed in relief, standing from his seat and coming over to her. "Are you hurt?" He began checking her over for injuries with his eyes. When he was satisfied that Sarada seemed to be fine, his eyes narrowed in anger, and he crossed his arms. "That was the most stupid thing I've ever seen."

"Em, Sasuke?" Naruto snorted. "Isn't being the overprotective mother hen Sakura-chan's job?"

Sasuke turned to him and growled, before turning back to Sarada with a thoroughly pissed off look. "We had that completely handled before you and your little friend interrupted."

"It wasn't only Sarada's fault, quit railing on her." Boruto helped his best friend out once he saw her getting kind of annoyed at her father for the first time... ever. Sasuke was normally really cool, and not scold-y. This was new behavior for both of them, since Sasuke had always been the one to tell them to follow their guts.

"BORUTO!" Sarada ran over to him and checked her fellow time traveler for injuries. "You IDIOT! When I told you to cause a distraction, I meant throw a stick in the opposite direction or something, not charge in! Why did you do that?!"

Boruto backed away from Sarada with an irritated look on his face. "I'm fine, you can leave me alone. Jeez, I save you from Uncle Sasuke and this is the thanks I get? Some friend you are, 'ttebasa."

That got him glares from both Sasuke and Sarada.

Sarada knew something wasn't right with Boruto, he looked paler than normal and he had a slightly pained look, but he wouldn't let her see if he was okay. She figured it was guilt, and left him alone like he'd asked, because she knew what it felt like to want to be left alone.

"I still can't believe my Sasuke-kun chose you over me." Karin pouted, glaring at Sakura.

Sakura glanced at her. "Who are you again?"

Sasuke sighed. "Sakura, this is Karin Uzumaki, one of my teammates."

"She's obsessed with Sasuke." Suigetsu rolled his eyes. "She's just a creep, don't listen to her."

"I see," Sakura looked at Karin thoughtfully. "Wow, you're a lot like me when I was younger."

Karin scoffed. "And how is that?"

"Annoying." Sakura said smoothly, almost sounding as emotionless as Sasuke whenever he says the word. "And desperate." Karin's face go red, and Boruto, Suigetsu and Naruto snickered.

Karin's face burned bright red, humiliated and angry, but knew it wasn't her place to yell at Sakura. While ordinarily, that wouldn't have stopped her, Kakashi was glaring at her like she was the scum of the earth, and from the looks of it she did not want to get on anyone's bad side. Karin might be obsessed, fine, but she wasn't an idiot. So she stood up and walked away, wandering the halls like an idiot. Sakura almost sighed, wishing Karin wasn't like this. They probably could get along better if she wasn't so defensive.

The same three boys from earlier laughed again at Karin's priceless facial expression before she left. Sasuke and Sarada exchanged a glance, annoyed.

"How do you stand them talking about you like you're not here?" Sarada whined, rolling her eyes. "You can totally stand up for yourself. You are your own person, you know."

"I normally don't want to interrupt things like that. Usually I just let them fight it out." Sasuke sighed, looking at the people in the room pointedly. "You get used to it after awhile."

"So Karin really was annoying... I thought that was just what Sui said." Boruto whispered to Sarada, rolling his eyes. "Damn, Uncle Sasuke had to deal with that every time he was with Team Hebi? I feel bad for him."

"Tell me about it." Sarada whispered back. Sasuke heard them and resisted the urge to snort, instead sighing in irritation. "Take me back to when Mom and Aunt Karin are besties, please, because it's easier to deal with them when they're laughing and gossiping than when they're fighting."

Itachi found the whole thing very amusing. He kept imagining his mother's face if she had seen this.

"Oh, right!" Sakura looked at her future daughter exasperatedly. "We need to discuss what went down earlier. Why did you guys let Karin and I get so distracted???"

"That was by far the most entertaining thing I've seen yet." Juugo piped up from where he had been previously been sitting quietly.

"Hn. You guys are hopeless." Sasuke asserted, looking very determinately at the floor.

"Okay, Sarada, Boruto," Sakura scowled, changing the subject, her leftover rage taking over. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING-"

Sakura's oncoming rant was --thankfully-- interrupted by knocking on the door. Sarada slid down in her seat, sighing gratefully.

"Who could that be?" Kakashi asked, partially amused, partially concerned. No one knew who it was, there hadn't been any warning, it had come out of the blue.

"Only one way to find out..." Itachi stood up from his place in the recliner. Walking to the door, he opened it only to find a lavender haired woman shivering at the door. The sun had almost gone down, and the cold forest air was penetrating.

"HINATA?" Everyone called, surprised.

"How did you get here???" Naruto asked, helping the girl in. The sun had gone down and it was really cold out. Hinata looked at everyone, really confused at the strange assortment of people in the same room.

"Pakkun came to Konoha awhile ago saying that Kakashi-sensei needed help." Hinata coughed. "What are you all doing here? Sasuke-san?" The poor girl was massively confused.

"Hinata." Sasuke nodded, the remains of a blush still on his face. Which only made Hinata more confused.

"KAA-SAN?!" Boruto gasped, running into his mother's arms.

That did it. Hinata was officially the most confused she's been in her entire life.

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"Ano, what is going on?" Hinata asked, holding Boruto, but not entirely sure who he was. The boy had a smile on his face. Obviously he was remembering his own experiences with his mother, not her past self.

"Oh boy." Sakura went over to Hinata and side hugged her, forcing Boruto to climb down. "Hinata, it's so great to see you. You might want to sit down for this."

Hinata glanced at her suspiciously. "What is going on here, Sakura-chan? Why is Uchiha Itachi here? And Sasuke-san? And who are the kids?"

"This is going to be such a pain to explain..." Naruto groaned. "Okay, Hinata, this is Sasuke and Sakura-chan's daughter, Sarada, she comes from the future." Sarada smiled and waved shyly at Aunt Hinata. She was really pretty at this age. "And, this little squirt is our son from the future, Boruto Uzumaki."

"Eh? Our son from the future? Are you serious?" Hinata asked, looking at Boruto. "My, you're big."

"Erm, Hinata-chan?" Sakura laughed. "Aren't you going to freak and pass out?"

"Why would I do that?" Hinata asked, more confused than normal. "Wait a sec-- OHH." She went bright red. "Oh my." She put her hands on Naruto and Sakura's shoulders to keep from falling.

"Haha, kaa-san was shy. Just like my crazy old man said!" Boruto laughed at his mother. "And really pretty, too."

"T-thanks?" Hinata asked, seeming a little uncertain. She didn't know if that was a compliment, or an insult to her looks from the future. "So, can someone fill me on on what is going on? When Pakkun showed up, I ran off without telling anyone, and I have no idea what happened, but I could swear I saw a group of people in Akatsuki cloaks coming from this direction. They were chasing invisible people. It was almost impossible to get through the minefield outside, too. I used Byakugan to navigate the minefield and find this place."

Itachi chuckled. "I wonder how far they got before they realized they were clones?"

"Probably all the way to Konoha." Kakashi nodded. Then he looked at Hinata. "Yeah, I sent Pakkun, that was before all this, when I first saw them in the woods and thought Itachi and Sasuke were kidnapping them or something. I thought I'd need backup, so I asked him to find someone and quick. I guess he found you."

"So that's what all the clones were for. You had one of them summon Pakkun and sent him off to Konoha." Sarada muttered.

"Smart kid." Kakashi ruffled her hair. She grinned up at him.

"We still need to discuss punishments for what you pulled earlier, young lady. You are not off the hook, ya hear me!?" Sakura scowled, shaking her fist threateningly. "That was not funny. You scared the living crap out of me."

Sarada and Boruto looked at each other really quickly, then they started laughing. At first it started off quieter then it was borderline crazy people laughing.

"What's up with them?" Sakura whispered to Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke.

"How should I know? I'm not a kid person!" Naruto and Sasuke said at the same time. Then they glared at each other. "Yes, you are," they said, again at the same time. "No, you are!" They said, and pointed, at the same time.

"Whoa, it's like they're connected at the brain..." Suigetsu floated by. "That's kinda scary..."

Boruto and Sarada kept laughing until other people caught on. Kakashi and Itachi apparently figured out the joke, and started chuckling with them, leaving the eight 16 year olds completely out of the loop.

"OKAY, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE, DATTEBAYO???" Naruto finally got tired and asked.

"We're getting scolded--" Sarada interrupted herself, keeling over laughing.

"By our 16 year old parents--" Boruto did the same thing and rolled on the floor.

"And we're just three years younger than you!" Sarada and Boruto stopped enough to say. Then they bursted into laughter again.

"How? How is that funny?" Sasuke asked, scowling.

"Don't worry, Sasuke, I don't get it either." Naruto added helpfully.

"Now I'm even more worried for my mental capabilities than I was before." Sasuke looked at his daughter and the Dobe's son.

Kakashi just started laughing harder, and soon the three of them were laughing so hard they had to sit on the floor to not pee themselves.

"Well, this has been fun and all, the not-knowing-what-is-going-on thing, but it gets kinda tiring after awhile." Sakura sighed. "I don't understand, guys, what's so funny?"

"Scolded.... by 16 year old.... parents....." Boruto gasped in between laughs.

"Do you guys have any idea how weird this is?" Sarada finally coughed out. "You guys are 16."

"So?" Sasuke frowned.

That just got everyone laughing again.

"We never would've thought that would happen." Itachi explained, gasping for air. "You're sixteen, and you guys all act like old married couples, and not to mention how mature you've gotten in the last day..."

"And you're actually acting like parents." Kakashi heaved. "Any idea how weird that is for us?"

"So?" Naruto repeated.

"You're in a 16 year old body." Kakashi laughed again. "That is just weird... my cute little students, acting mature..." He shuddered too realistically for his students' liking.

"OI, SHUT UP SENSEI! Not like you could raise a kid at 16, ya know?" Naruto barked out, flushing a little bit.

"You wouldn't have to if we got them back to their own time." Itachi commented, and everyone froze. They all exchanged glances as if they all knew what they were thinking. Then Naruto grimaced.

"Huh. You obviously don't want the kids to leave." Kakashi said to them, eyes widening at his students.

They didn't need to tell him, it was obvious from the expressions on their faces.

"You have to understand, they don't belong here," Itachi frowned. "As much as I want Sarada and Boruto to stay, they have to go home."

"When did the great Uchiha Itachi become so empathetic?" Hinata whispered to Naruto.

"I think it's a new phenomenon." Naruto whispered back, earning a heated glare from said Uchiha.

"Anyway, we have to get them home. Future you will be looking for them like crazy. If they love them." Itachi contributed.

Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura looked down. They knew themselves, and they might be different in the future, but all three of them were extremely stubborn and strong. They wouldn't rest until their kids were home safe.

"You guys will get to see them when you grow up." Kakashi shrugged. "And I guess Itachi will too, since he's alive now."

"Well, unless the sickness kills me first." Itachi frowned. Speaking of that, his head was already pounding. Sarada noticed, and pumped her medical chakra into his eyes and bronchial tubes to soothe the pain for now. She hadn't used up much chakra during the fight, so it relaxed Itachi almost instantly.

"We can't keep going on like this, Uncle..." She sighed, watching as the lines around his eyes decreased with the pain. He looked older than he was. It was sad. "We have to find you a cure."

Just then, Boruto fell against the table.

"S-shīt." He cursed, clutching his side. Only then did everyone notice the blood on his jacket. "Seems--" He coughed out blood, "Seems like I couldn't hide it long enough... Sorry..." He coughed. Everyone blinked at him. How did this kid manage to hide the fact that he was bleeding out and none of us noticed?

"BORUTO!" Sarada screamed as her teammate lost consciousness.

Sakura and Hinata ran forward, and Naruto and Sasuke were frozen in complete shock as Boruto began to bleed out on the floor. Sakura hastily felt for his pulse.

"Boruto." Sarada sank to her knees next to her teammate, tears pooling in her eyes. To her credit, she didn't let them fall. His pulse was slowing, and his breathing was fading. She wasn't a medic ninja, and only had basic medical skill her mother taught her, but she knew that wound was deep. How on earth had the blonde managed to hide that for so long? And WHY would he hide it?

"Guys," Sakura's hoarse voice whispered as she looked up. "This is not good."