Chapter Text
"Excuse me, Obaa-san. Where can we find the history section?"
A nice old lady directs them towards a further section of the library. It doesn't get lost on the two ANBU that nearly all the books were new. Or an older-looking new addition to the public library.
When they finally arrive at the history section, out of sight of the librarian, Sasuke slumps a little.
Shikako understands in some way. If she found out she had a relative in the future, she'd be freaked out too.
Sasuke's face looks stony, but his friend can see the questions in his eyes.
Who is she?
Is she a survivor?
A survivor's child?
My child?
Itachi procreated?
Shikako winces. Yeah. She can understand Sasuke, all those theories have some... implications.
Instead of asking her captain if he is okay, she just sits down next to him, letting him know that he can take as long as he likes.
In less than a minute, (he's improving so much! Shikako's so proud) Sasuke speaks up, "I think we should be careful... we might find things which... may impact our mission."
'Our mission', not 'us' or 'our feelings', both are too professional for that.
Hopefully, they find something useful here.
And perhaps a clue as to what became of the Uchiha, what became of Sasuke.
-
Boruto starts complaining as soon as they step into the library.
Mitsuki, of course, just nods along confusedly.
Sarada sighs. Her teammates are such idiots.
The old librarian waves them over, so she drags her team over to receive further instructions for their mission.
"Hello dearies. Are you the Genin hired to help out?" the lady with greying hair asks.
"Hai!" the Team replies.
"Of course. Of course. Follow me," the lady gestures for them to follow. "The library is unusually popular today. Two other young ones also came in today. It's unfortunate, the younger generation doesn't visit as much anymore. There's a lot to find in here."
Finally, they reach a stack of books.
"These books need to be put back in their place." Obaa-san gestures to the piles of books, chuckling, "I used to do it myself, but I'm afraid I'm getting a bit too old for it."
"Don't you worry, Obaa-san, we'll be done within the hour!" Boruto claims.
Sarada just shakes her head at the idiot's antics.
When they start replacing the books on the shelves, she nearly forgets all about the strange boy from that morning... until she nearly drops a shelf on him.
-
Boruto just rounds a corner, along with Sarada, about to finish with the modern history books, when she grabs him and pulls him behind the shelf.
With a muffled yelp, a book on top of his stack falls, only to land on his toes.
"Sarada. What-"
"SHHH." She shushes him. "That's the boy from earlier."
They peak around the corner, seeing the two dark-haired teens seemingly lost in their reading. Good, they weren't noticed.
Boruto decides to give her a judgemental look. "Really, Sarada? I thought boys didn't bother you."
"Of course they don't," she snaps back, "he was just staring at me today, and I wanna know why."
"What's the big deal?" the blond shrugs, "He probably has a crush on you. What's so weird about that?"
Boruto thinks he doesn't deserve the glare Sarada sends him.
"Yeah. Well... I don't know. It felt different."
Narrowing his eyes, Boruto inspects her. "If you're so hung up on this, why don't we just spy on them?"
"But that's wrong!"
"We're ninja, it's our job to spy on people."
"..."
He raises an eyebrow, his arms crossed.
"... Fine. But lets get closer without getting noticed first."
-
Sasuke doesn't know if he should laugh or cry.
The two genin (because obviously they're genin, seriously. Have they never heard of keeping their voices down?) huddle on top of the bookcase behind Kako.
"Found anything yet?" He asks.
"2 unknowns, behind and above, genin level, low threat, cover remains." Sasuke signs at the same time.
Kako signs an affirmative.
Despite the two not being a threat, they still have to be careful. So far, it seems like the Konoha of the future is much less likely to simply lock them up and throw away the key. However, Sasuke trusts Shikako more than this possible (but probably not) Genjutsu, or other version of his home. So far, they agreed they'd try to find a way back on their own.
Other reasons for their reluctance to ask for help are the slight... discrepancies. Okay. Naruto becoming the Nanadaime Hokage doesn't seem all that impossible, even if it does make him question the intelligence of whoever put that dobe in charge. But there are other things... such as the lack of information on the devastation of Hot Springs.
Then there's the Uchiha girl, who apparently noticed him staring earlier.
Sasuke doesn't know if he wants to know about the future of the Uchiha clan.
Then there's a lack of the Garden of Life from Death, the Suna-Kiri-Konoha Alliance, and a whole load of other stuff (they haven't even checked out that book about the Akatsuki and the 4th Great Ninja War), instead, there's... world peace apparently.
Sasuke doesn't trust it.
But what bothers him the most is the distinct lack of Shikakoness.
It's as if Shikako just... didn't exist.
It is the little things, not just the outright lack of mention of her. This world is just... off.
Not for the last time, Sasuke thanks the universe for his friend's existence. The world wouldn't be the same without her. Literally.
"Quite a bit, actually. Did you know that the Fifth Kazekage completely wiped the floor with his opponents during his Chunin Exams in Grass?" Kako asks, confirming that they weren't present for those exams here.
"Huh. I found a guidebook about visiting the Land of Hot Springs."
He sees her breaths stutter and his heart nearly breaks.
"It was not you." Sasuke signs, because they're still being observed.
"Then who?"
When they get home, Sasuke is going to track down Sensei and even Naruto. And they are going to have a lovely Team dinner, where they'll just so happen to bring up all the good that Shikako did. You know. Just for reminiscing.
"EEE!"
Suddenly, a shadow fell over them.
Team 7 luck sucks.
-
"Found anything yet?" The boy asks.
Now that he's closer, Sarada notices that he looks familiar. She swears she's seen him somewhere before. It's kinda like seeing an eerily similar copy of herself but as a boy... and with a slightly different face and a rat's nest for hair.
So maybe not so similar to her. But there's something...
"Quite a bit, actually. Did you know that the Fifth Kazekage completely wiped the floor with his opponents during his Chunin Exams in Grass?" the girl with buns like her aunt Tenten's asks.
Maybe they were doing some research into history? Maybe a project on the other Kages?
"Huh. I found a guidebook about visiting the Land of Hot Springs."
But what does that have to do with it?
'Urgh! So many contradictions!' Sarada thinks, annoyed.
"What are we looking at?" Mitsuki appears.
"EEE!"
Boruto and Sarada both nearly jump, managing to stick to the top of the bookshelf.
However, none of them noticed the shift in their make-shift ground's balance, due to their lean, before they started to plummet towards the ground, along with the bookshelf.
Team 7 really has the worst luck.
-
"Interesting." Says a figure in a dark room, illuminated only by the screen in front of him.
The footage shows room 997. It is empty apart from a complicated seal in the centre.
Then two figures appear.
The man pauses the video. He chuckles.
"Well," Orochimaru's eyes gleam with interest, "this was not what I was expecting."