This chapter was beta-read by: Sakura's Unicorn

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Pakkun disappears with the scroll and a message for Tsunade to create a quarantine zone around the bubble. Sarada is not sure how much use that will be, but she supposes in Kakashi's place she would do the same.

Sarada studies him, anxious, and imagines the thoughts going through his head.

Whatever this version of him might pretend to his students, he is not at ease with the idea of heading into a potential trap. A search for a nukanin's hideout is bad enough. Doing so because there may or may not be a homicidal lunatic keeping one of the village's squads captive complicates things even more.

And they'll be travelling with a stranger they know isn't being honest with them, Sarada reflects. Any other shinobi would order his squad to bring her back to the village and then carry out further investigations himself. Thankfully—in a left-handed way—she needs medical attention now, and not in the half-day it would take to bring her back.

Sasuke helps Sarada to her feet, an expression on his face like he isn't quite sure what to do now that they are both standing. That expression becomes more pronounced when she sways on her feet and falls back against him.

You think you're weirded out by this? Sarada wants to ask him. I think I might be taller than you right now! That's weird!

"Here's the deal," Kakashi's voice breaks her out of her thoughts, his tone leaving no room for argument. "We are investigating this place out of no other reason than medical aid. We're not about to go scouting the entire area looking for your squad. Our focus has to be on stopping whatever this chakra phenomena is doing. But if we do come across your squad in the hideout—"

"Everyone wins," she concludes faintly, swallowing.

"Exactly. But if we find nothing, there will come a point where we revisit the issue. And I won't tolerate any more protests from you if we have to return to Konoha."

Sarada frowns, but she doesn't argue; it's the best she can manage now.

"I'll take you. I'm less likely to drop you on the way up," he says, earning a scowl from Sasuke. Though he's made clear his distrust of Sarada, he doesn't like any insinuation that he is weak.

Kakashi strides forward and takes Sasuke's place, hefting Sarada into his arms. He is mindful of her arm as he and the rest of his squad head up the cliffs, and without entirely meaning to, Sarada relaxes into him. Past or present, this is Lord Sixth—Uncle Kakashi—and her mother raised her to feel safe with him.

The way up is fast, and almost comfortable the way he shields her in his arms. She senses him checking on her every few seconds and notes a confusion in his eye he can't quite hide. She supposes she can understand that.

Generally, a ninja being captured or transported by a potential enemy is more prone to fighting, not going boneless in their arms. Twice he looks like he wants to ask her something, but doesn't.

Behind them, Sakura suddenly trips against the cliff face, and Sasuke reaches out the steady her.

"You're supposed to have better chakra control than me," he chides, letting go of her as soon as she gets her footing. "Pay attention."

He continues on as if nothing happened, trailing Kakashi and keeping his eye firmly on Sarada. He's not the only one. Sakura glares in her direction, more pointedly this time, and Sarada hides her face in Kakashi's chest.

Mama's scary, even when she was my age!

Once everyone arrives at the top, Kakashi manoeuvres Sarada to her feet. She wobbles a little when he sets her down, and Sarada shivers a bit. Sakura, watching her as closely as she is, notices and her face smooths from suspicious glare to a frown of concern.

She stalks toward her.

"Kakashi-sensei, her pupils are dilated," she tells him. "That's not a good sign, right?"

"No, it's not," he agrees.

"Then we need to find this hideout as soon as possible," she announces. At least she's able to put aside her dislike in the field and remember her first-aid training. "The sooner we get some strong antibiotics into her system, the better."

"Or we could amputate the arm," Sasuke suggests. "That is the standard field procedure."

Sarada opens her mouth to protest, then snaps it shut again. She snorts and mutters under her breath, "This explains so much about you..."

She isn't silent enough, though, because Naruto guffaws, and Sasuke looks like he's not sure whether he should be insulted. Rather than dwell on it too much, he looks around the area he and Kakashi searched earlier. "So, where's this hideout you were talking about?"

Sarada looks around, reorienting herself, and then points at a pile of felled trees and rotted logs. "There it is."

Sasuke stares beyond her finger but sees nothing. "There's nothing there."

"That's because there's another genjutsu ward on it," she tells him, unable to hide the know-it-all tone that laces her words. "There was one before."

"One only you can sense?" he challenges.

Sarada makes a face at him, but Sakura takes a few steps forward and says, "Kai!"

Everyone follows suit and the area warps to show a burrow, like something made by a snake, only it's concrete. It's ringed by leaves and bushes, but very clearly sticks out as a man-made structure.

"We should have brought Sakura up with us before and left you to watch Sarada," Naruto sniggers. "She's better at sensing genjutsu than you are, asshole."

Sakura turns pink and shuffles her feet. "No, I...I didn't notice it, either. Not until Sarada pointed it out. Sorry."

"What are you apologising about?" Sasuke grumbles. "If Kakashi didn't notice it, and he's a jōnin, what chance did you have? I'm more interested in finding out why Sarada can see it, but none of us can."

Three pairs of eyes shift from him to Sarada.

"Yeah, that is kinda weird," Naruto muses, adopting a thoughtful expression like he's trying to pretend he's caught on but hasn't. "Do you have some kind of secret ability or something?"

Sarada experience a shot of panic. "I—"

"No, that isn't it," Kakashi answers. "I believe it's something to do with where we are. The bubble. Things are different in here. It's possible genjutsu affects us more because we're not from inside."

"Instead of getting the after-image, we get the full reality," Sasuke suggests.

"Right."

"So, she can sense it easier because she's from here?" Sakura guesses, relieved.

"That makes sense," Sarada considers, voice faint. "My sensei talked about portals and space-time ninjutsu. In theory, people from different dimensions can perceive the different layers of reality. It's what makes it impossible to travel through them unless you have a specific, inherited ability. That's why he suggested we get in contact with..."

She trails off when she catches sight of Kakashi's face.

"There are only a few people who would come to that kind of conclusion," he tells her quietly. "Arata Sarutobi isn't one of them."

Confusion fills her, followed by another growing sense of panic as she realises her carefully crafted lie is about to fall apart.

"What's the full name of your sensei, Sarada?" Kakashi asks her, his tone leaving no room for argument.

She swallows, uncomfortable. "I...I can't tell you."

"Can't?"

"Won't," Sasuke accuses.

"Shouldn't," she corrects. "It isn't a good idea. You guys shouldn't know more than you already do."

"As I outrank you at the moment, let me be the judge of that," Kakashi tells her, tone severe. "We can figure out what to do afterward."

Sarada studies him for a long spell, a million arguments and counter-arguments running through her mind. But the way he looks at her now, determined but patient, she can't help still feel her instinctive trust. Whatever she says, he will try to fix the problem.

She nods and exhales.

"Alright," she determined, squaring her shoulders, and then wincing when the movement jars her injury. "It's not like you guys will let it go anyway, so my teacher...his name is Konohamaru."

The silence that follows that statement is almost comical. Predictably, Naruto is the one to break it.

"Whaaat?" he demands, bursting into incredulous laughter. "That's impossible! Why would you be following that little brat around? I know for a fact he's not that great because he's my apprentice!"

"...in idiocy alone," Sasuke mutters.

"You guys, shut up," Sakura orders, brows drawn together as she tries to make sense of the information Sarada has presented to them.

Kakashi is frowning. "Konohamaru Sarutobi?"

"Yes."

"The Third Hokage's grandson."

"Yes."

"How old is your Konohamaru?"

"I don't remember. Older than me. He's a jōnin."

Naruto sniggers. "Then we can't be talking about the same guy! Unless he's some clumsy guy running around with his scarf around his ankles. I mean, what idiot would make that kid a jōnin?"

"Uh..." She has the bizarre urge to laugh. "The Hokage?"

"And who's that?"

"You asked me that already. Lady Tsunade."

"Yes, she's our Hokage," Kakashi allows with deliberate patience. "But she's not the Hokage where you come from, is she?"

Sarada averts her gaze. "No. Not since before I was born."

It takes a few seconds for her meaning to become plain.

Sasuke's eyes widen. "Wait. Are you saying—"

"This girl is—" Sakura interrupts.

"What?" Naruto demands, not getting it. "What is she?"

"Somehow—as hard as it is to believe—Sarada is from the future," Kakashi pronounces, ignoring the disbelieving stares of his students. His eyes are thoughtful, and she bets he is revisiting everything she has said or done since their interaction, trying to see how he didn't understand earlier.

And to find out if there's anything she's said since they met that might be dangerous.

"No way!" Naruto cries. "That's impossible!"

"No, it's not," Sasuke counters. "It's like I said earlier, this place looks like two separate spaces are stuck together. Only it's not space, it's time. It's our time and her time."

"The bubble!" Sakura exclaims. "We went through the bubble and—oh! It's us who travelled in time, not Sarada!"

Naruto whips his head around, looking at his surroundings as if seeing them for the first time. "What, seriously? You mean right now, we're in the future? No way! But everything looks so normal!"

"It's only been about twenty years. What did you expect, flying cars?" Sarada mutters.

"Flying what?"

Everyone looks puzzled by this comment.

"Oh. You don't have cars yet," Sarada realises. "Oops?"

"Why didn't you say anything?!" Sakura demands.

"I didn't think it would be a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Because she knows us in the future—am I right?" Kakashi suggests.

"Yeah."

"Everything that happens to us from now until—well, twenty or so years from now, you said?"

"Yes."

"So what? How is that dangerous for us?" Naruto questions. "It sounds like it would be handy."

"Oh, lots of metaphysical and philosophical reasons you wouldn't understand," Kakashi dismisses, earning unimpressed glares from his students. "But let me try with an example: say Sarada knows us all twenty years in the future."

"Okay."

"As of this moment, we know that in twenty years' time, we'll all be alive. So, our future selves have, in theory, survived every mission, every surprise attack, every possible accident or disease until then."

"Hey, that's pretty cool!"

"Maybe. Or maybe it's just dangerous. Because with that logic, knowing we all get to live at least that long, certain members of this squad might get reckless on a mission," Kakashi continues. "Someone might decide, 'Hey, I can't die because I'm alive in the future, so I'll throw myself into dangerous situations because I'm invincible.' And then get killed."

Kakashi stares in Naruto and Sasuke's direction. The Uchiha boy makes an amused noise. "He's looking at you, idiot."

Naruto shoots him a glare. "Nuh-uh, he's totally looking at you!"

"Shut up!" Sakura shouts, reaching out to hit Naruto in the back of the head, but he ducks just in time.

"In any case," Kakashi continues, raising his voice and forcing their attention back on him, "before you know it, someone's taken out that nameless person because he isn't paying attention. Then the whole future changes."

"You're assuming time is a strictly linear progression," Sakura points out, brow wrinkling in thought. "But you said yourself there are parallel dimensions. How do we know this isn't one of those situations?"

"We don't." Kakashi admits. "But of the two options, it's safest for us to assume it's linear." He addresses Sarada. "You acted as you should have done. I apologise for forcing you to tell us, but now that I understand what you were hiding, we can avoid any in-depth questions."

"It would have come out eventually," she sighs.

"This information changes things, though. We need to move fast. We have to figure out how to stop this...time phenomenon so, when we leave here, the future stays put."

"And we have to find Konohamaru," Naruto pipes up, "because even if he's from the future, he's still my student—"

"He's not your student. he's just some kid who follows you around so you can teach him perverted jutsu," Sakura grumbles.

"He's a potentially lucrative hostage," Kakashi interrupts. "Past or future, the Sarutobi clan would be a valuable fount of information for an enemy. So, now he—and anyone he's with—are part of the mission."

"About time you thought so!" Sarada declares, although the suspicious lump in her throat takes a little of the bite from her words.

"All right!" Naruto cheers. "Let's go!"

"...Down into the creepy hole in the ground that's probably infested with rats and snakes and homicidal maniacs," Sakura mutters under her breath. "Oh, sure, in no way is this a bad idea."

Sakura's uncharacteristic sarcasm is punctuated by a short chuckle from Sasuke.

Sarada swallows.

She isn't a person who believes in omens, but if this Sasuke is cracking a smile, bad things must be about to happen.

The descent into the abandoned hideout is slow and careful. As determined as Sarada is to find her squad and deal with her arm, she doesn't blame Kakashi for taking his time. Even if this place didn't belong to that weirdo Orochimaru, there's something about heading underground that seems biologically counterintuitive.

The entire place is pitch black, but by calling up the Sharingan just before it manifests itself fully, Sarada's vision sharpens. Still, she accepts one of the standard issue glow sticks Kakashi cracks open and hands to her, Sakura, and Naruto. No one comments on him and Sasuke not needing them.

Unlit torches line the damp walls and water trickles down from tiny crevices. Their footsteps echo as they move and, occasionally, there's a crumbling noise when someone steps on what Sarada suspects might be animal bones.

"Rats," Sakura mutters, confirming those suspicions. "Ugh. Is there anything more disgusting?"

"Whatever ate the rats," Sasuke replies, unconcerned.

Sakura shudders so violently that, even in the dark, it's noticeable.

"Forget rats, do you smell that?" Naruto complains.

Sarada can't sense anything beyond the earthy dampness, but Naruto is the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon. He might have sharper olfactory senses than any of them, even at such a young age.

"None of you seem to understand the concept of stealth," Kakashi grumbles.

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto and Sakura chorus, and Sarada resists the urge to smack herself in the forehead.

This is the legendary Team 7? How did they survive to adulthood?

But she can't help the tiny smile that forms.

Despite the pressing nature of everything happening right now, she isn't stupid enough to squander her unexpected opportunity. The chance to get to know her parents and uncles as they once were is the sort of impossible wish she's harboured since she was little. Even if the charm has worn off when it comes to her father. At first interaction, he just seems so...

Antisocial and misanthropic, she decides after a few seconds.

Since meeting him, she's seen him go through more mood changes than her mother. That's an accomplishment, considering Auntie Ino is always talking about how Mama appears to have two spirits in her.

Sarada's father is someone she has always sought approval from because she wants him to be proud of her. She still wants approval from him now, but in a different sense. It's almost competitive, like she wants to prove that she is as good—or better—than he was at this age.

That fact makes understanding the younger version of Naruto a lot easier, too.

From what she's observed, the blond boy is frustrated and impatient. He strives for his self-appointed rival to approve of him, wants his female teammate to notice him, and yearns for his teacher to be proud of him.

That last bit is just like Boruto, she realises in surprise.

At last she sees the similarity between her teammate and his father. Both have the same drive to prove themselves. While Lord Seventh isn't so overt about it anymore, the kid he is now seems to run on bluster alone, instead of actual aptitude. Sarada always imagined the great Naruto Uzumaki was born talented. Perhaps not the best at everything, like he always brags, or a genius like her father, but a natural talent at least.

It turns out, he's a bit of a goofball, Sarada decides as the boy steps in something that goes squish. He then makes a big production of trying to wipe it off his foot, earning hisses of protest and warning from his teammates.

"Idiot! Knock it off!"

"Naruto, stop it! You'll get it on me!"

"Sorry, Sakura. I was aiming for him."

"Like that's any better!"

"Come near me, and I'll kill you."

Sarada can't help the giggle that escapes her then.

They're all goofballs, she decides, feeling a little lightheaded at the realisation.

She shakes her head and picks up her pace. The light feeling doesn't go away though. Then, the world tilts, and Sarada staggers. Her knees threaten to give out beneath her and it's only Kakashi's steadying hand on her uninjured shoulder that keeps her upright.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I'm just... The world is a bit spinny," she answers, frowning at the imprecise word.

"Can you keep going?"

"Of course I can!" she protests, taking a few determined steps forward. That she must concentrate is not lost on Kakashi.

"One of you, carry her," he orders his genin squad. "All the moving around is aggravating her injury."

Sasuke sighs. "I guess I—"

"—can do it!" Naruto declares.

There is a beat, and they glare at each other.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Sakura snarls, pushing both boys away before they can come to blows. "I'll do it. I bet you two would drop her down a tunnel or something, trying to compete with each other."

Kakashi opens his mouth like he wants to protest, but Sakura picks Sarada up like she weighs nothing. Sarada gives an undignified squeak even though Sakura holds her without even jostling her injured arm.

The rest of her squad stares at her in surprise.

"What?" Sakura barks. "Do you guys realise how many times you've ended up unconscious, and I had to carry you?"

Naruto and Kakashi have the decency to look embarrassed.

Go Mama! Sarada cheers inwardly. Perhaps she was too hasty earlier, thinking her mother was that different from the strong woman of the future.

"Good point," Naruto chuckles. "But you've had to carry Sasuke more than me, right?"

"Tch." Sasuke folds his arms and looks away.

"We have to find a way of treating her, soon," Sakura goes on, marching ahead. Then she pauses and turns back to the others, chuckling nervously. "Um...where are we going? This place is confusing."

"Leave that to me," Kakashi says, bringing out his summoning scroll again. A flourish of blood and smoke later, a tan dog with sunglasses materialises. "Akino. We need a helping hand—or nose, rather. Is there an infirmary somewhere around here? It'll smell like antiseptic and—"

"This place smells like death," Akino grumps, eying the corridor where he has found himself. "It's mostly empty, but..."

"But what?"

"Like I said, boss, it smells like death." Akino's muzzle wrinkles, and he bares his teeth in disgust. "Rotting bodies."

Kakashi looks grim. "Kabuto's handiwork."

Kabuto? Kabuto Yakushi? But isn't he the one who runs the Konoha Orphanage...?

"I don't think this was such a good idea, after all," Sakura says, swallowing. "What if...what if there's something still alive around here?"

"Are you kidding?" Naruto cries. "First, we get to travel in time, now we might get to face the walking dead? This day is turning out to be so cool!"

Sarada rolls her eyes.

He thinks it's all a game. Definitely like Boruto...

"You have an overactive imagination," Akino tells him then turns away. "Well, come on. The sooner we find this place, the sooner I can clean my nostrils out."

They fall into a standard guard formation, Akino at the front, followed by Kakashi and Naruto; Sasuke walks behind Sakura and Sarada, no doubt keeping an eye on threats that might crop up from the rear.

As the group treks through the dank, underground hall, Sarada fights the temptation to doze off against Sakura's shoulder. The pain in her arm is making her loopy, and the fever and chills don't help. And then there is being so close to her mother-to-be, which is deceptively comforting. Sarada can't help but believe that everything will be all right.

Stay awake, she commands herself. She's been unconscious way too often today and refuses to succumb to sleep again.

Not that she could—Naruto is filling the silence with nervous chatter.

"...what I don't get? If Sarada got attacked when she and her squad got close to this place why weren't we attacked when we got close?"

"And why aren't we being attacked now?" Sakura adds.

"No doubt we triggered a ward," Sasuke suggests. "We know there was a genjutsu protecting the entrance. There would be others."

"And...and maybe that ghost was so busy dragging everyone back to wherever the hell he came from, he hasn't had time to put them up again," Naruto guesses. Then he groans. "But that means he's probably going to coming looking for us, right?"

"It's not certain," Kakashi says. "If he's using Hiraishin, or any variation, he's using a lot of chakra. He will need time to recover, especially if he's using it to cover great distances."

"Or all of this is speculation, and she's luring us into a trap," Sasuke points out.

Sarada tries to glare at him over Sakura's shoulder. "I can hear you, you know."

The tunnels are narrow, curving, and seemingly endless. Sarada suspects that without Akino to guide them, they would be lost. Still, it's fifteen minutes before he leads them into a corridor that opens into an actual chamber. Kakashi fumbles with something on a wall; there's a click and a hum of electricity in the air. The room gradually becomes lighter.

The shiver that creeps up Sarada's spine has nothing to do with her fever.

That they have reached a laboratory is more than obvious from first glance. The place is furnished with sterile, metal tables and row upon row of shelves. A sharp, too-clean odour permeates the entire area which, despite its pungent nature, doesn't quite dispel the underlying scent of old blood, urine and other bodily fluids.

Vials and instruments line the countertops. All the surgical tools appear to be in pristine condition, even though they lie abandoned, as if waiting for someone to return and pick them up again. The floor is immaculate but for the layer of dust which suggests no one has been here in years.

Everything else is meticulously, impossibly clean.

Except...

Except, when she squints, Sarada can see dried flecks of blood that have seeped too deep into the crevices of the floor and walls for conventional cleaning to erase. And most worrying of all is the closed, steel door at the other end of the hall. Beyond it, Sarada can hear muffled thumps and an odd rumbling noise, like gears scraping.

"I...don't think this place is very safe," she comments. "Are we sure there's no other scary lab where we can work?"

"Kid, I just about burned my nose hairs off finding you this place," the ninja dog snarks.

"And on that note, thanks," Kakashi says. "We won't need you to get out again. I've marked our trail back."

"See ya, boss!"

There's a puff of smoke, and he disappears.

"Come on. Let's do this and get out as soon as possible," Sakura says, shuddering. "I doubt we'll find anywhere safer than this. And at least we already know it's creepy."

"Put her down on the table over there," Kakashi orders. "I need help to get the right treatment together. Naruto, Sasuke—keep an eye out for danger. I doubt there is such thing as a safe place down here."

Everyone scatters, and Sarada has to content herself with lying back on the cold slab of metal. She fights off the growing urge to vomit. Without a specific task to focus on, it's harder to ignore her condition.

There's another odd grinding sound from behind the metal door—more like scraping—which makes her clench her good fist, but otherwise, the place remains quiet. Sasuke drifts nearby, lazily considering the contents of one cabinet, although from his body language, he looks ready to spring. Every so often, he shoots her a calculating, still suspicious look.

"Still think I'm a spy?" she croaks at him the fourth time he does this, unable to keep the bitterness out of the question.

His face sets in a familiar stubbornness. "I don't know what to think."

"Kind of hard to fake sepsis. Of course, all of this could just mean I'm a very dedicated spy."

"Everyone I've met who works for Orochimaru has been willing to die for him. He's powerful."

He rubs at the back of his neck, a preoccupied set to his jaw.

"I've only ever met people who wanted to kill him," Sarada says, thoughtful. "And after seeing the guy myself—I mean, he is a guy, right? He looked more like a girl when I saw him...anyway..."

She trails off because something dark and pensive passes over Sasuke's face. She doesn't like it.

"Hey, what's your favourite food?" she asks suddenly.

Sasuke looks thrown by the non sequitur, but his focus returns to her. "What?"

"You looked kind of upset there for a minute," she explains. "I don't have any potato chips to offer you, which is what my best friend Chōchō does, so I'm trying to make small talk. My mother does that with her patients when she wants to take their minds off whatever's making them feel bad."

"Small talk," he repeats, half-derisive and half like it's a foreign concept.

"Yeah."

He snorts. "Don't be annoying."

"Oh, come on. It's a safe subject! It's not something confidential, so even if I was a spy, I couldn't take over Konoha with the information."

"I'm not doing this."

"I could be dying. You should humour me."

His eyes narrow. "You are not dying."

"I'm going to guess," she ignores him, and pretends to think about it. "I bet it's tomatoes. You look like a tomato person."

He crosses his arms, defiant.

"What about stuff you do for fun?"

He glares at her.

"You don't seem to have much of a personality," she goes on, "so I guess the only thing you like to do is train. Or take walks. Am I right? I'm right, aren't I?"

If he glares any more, she suspects his face might crumple in on itself.

This is way more fun than it should be.

It's easier to tease this version of her father than the adult one. Even though she's mostly been arguing with him, this version is a lot easier to read.

"And, let's see, what else... How about favourite colour? I think it's green."

"Wrong."

Sasuke's eyes bulge a little, as if he didn't expect to say anything. In fact, he appears to be furious with himself.

"Really?" Sarada asks with false innocence. "Are you sure? Because I still want to say green. Not a forest green or a camouflage green. More jade or sea-foam—"

"This is pointless," he protests. "And also rigged. You come from the future—"

"Hah! So, you finally admit I'm not a spy!" she declares happily. "Also, I notice you haven't denied the sea-foam thing."

"What's going on here?" Sakura's tone is falsely bright as she pops up between them so quickly and quietly that both jump. Sarada inhales from the pain of the unexpected movement.

Sakura's eyes narrow at her in suspicion, flitting to Sasuke, and then back. Her lips purse and the carriage of her body is possessive. And the way she's gripping a jar of ointment suggests she's seconds away from breaking it.

Sarada suddenly concludes that her mother is intimidated...by her.

Almost like she's worried about competition.

Over her father.

Oh, that is so gross.

She hurries to clear the air. "Sorry. I'm only getting your, um, boyfriend here to admit I'm not a spy."

Which doesn't seem to be the correct answer because Sakura goes pink and flustered, and Sasuke snorts and stalks away from them.

"Tch," he grunts as he goes, leaving a crushed Sakura, and a confused Sarada.

It occurs to her right then what a bad idea it would be for her mother to learn the truth. This insecure, dependant girl, who is besotted with Sasuke, would hyperventilate herself into a coma. Worse, she might act foolishly and get herself hurt—or killed.

Good thing Kakashi's on my side about not talking about the future, Sarada decides. She hopes she'll be able to avoid any conversation like that for the duration of this little adventure.

As though summoned by her thoughts, Kakashi materialises beside the girls. He carries a tray with several syringes and flasks of liquid.

"Everything was labelled well with meticulous directions, so it wasn't too difficult to track down what we need. I couldn't find much in the way of anaesthetic though. Sorry."

"I guess in this place, that's the first thing that runs out," Naruto remarks from across the room. "We'll keep looking, though."

"I know we're kind of desperate, but are you sure you can trust anything that's in here?" Sakura asks, setting the jar down beside Sarada.

"Kabuto is a trained medic. He might be an underhanded traitor, but he is a meticulous healer," Kakashi replies with grudging admiration. "The purity of his work—whether it's experimentation or healing—is too important to compromise by mislabelling his medicines."

"I guess..." Sakura doesn't sound too convinced.

Sarada studies the medications in front of her. She recognises most of the names because she's seen them in her mother's clinic. There's an extra-strength antibiotic which should end the infection, along with an internal healing agent, and...weird, round, brown pellets she's never seen.

"What are those?" she asks, wrinkling her nose; they look like rodent poop.

"Soldier pills," Kakashi explains. "They're used in military situations to replenish chakra and nourish the body. They allow you to keep fighting longer than normal, but at the cost of a major crash later on."

"Oh. We have something like that now only they're patches you can put on your skin. The effect is longer and more controlled."

"Sarada—future information," he chides her.

"It's not like knowing that will alter the course of history," she grumbles. She accepts one of the little pellets while Sakura gathers the rest and puts them in her pack. "Ugh! It's like eating mud!"

"Medicine isn't supposed to taste good," Sakura reminds her, and Sarada can't help snorting in amusement because she sounds the same twenty years in the future.

"All of this is still cruder than healing jutsu, but it will get you out of the woods and functional," Kakashi explains. "Sakura found a topical solution as well. We can check the bandage and incisions I made before and then put this on to fight the bacteria. I don't think you want to deal with gangrene."

"No, thank you," she concurs. A minute later, she adds, "You know you don't have to explain all this, right? My mother's a medic. I could do all this myself if I could move my arm."

Kakashi chuckles at that and unbinds her injury then reaches for the syringes full of medication. She winces as he finds a vein and tries not to swear.

The process is long, but it surprises Sarada to find Sakura stays beside her. She might not like her very much, but she still offers Sarada her hand to squeeze whenever the pain from Kakashi's gentle prodding becomes too intense. The rest of the time, she is observing everything Kakashi does, looking fascinated and far from squeamish. Which is more than can be said for Naruto whenever he wanders over to them. He keeps pulling faces, and when Sarada glances down, she can't even blame him.

Until now, she hasn't seen her injury.

She woke up with it bandaged and set in a sling, but staring at it now, she realises it barely even resembles a hand anymore. Her bones, while not poking through her skin, seem crooked and misshapen; the knuckles of her index and middle fingers might as well have been pulverised. The incision marks that show where Kakashi put the bones back into place (what was left of them, in some cases) are reasonably well done. Visually, though, they are rough and in no way resemble the barely-there sutures she would have gotten at Konoha Hospital.

Sarada has more to worry about than aesthetics. All she can hope for is that the injury doesn't get badly infected. Then, if she gets home—when she gets home—her mother can fix the whole thing.

Which I figure means having them re-broken.

She winces at both the imagery and Kakashi clipping the thread off of a stitch he had to redo.

"Outside of the pain, how are you feeling?" Kakashi asks. "Your strength, at least, should have returned."

"Yeah," Sarada agrees. "I guess those mud pellets really work."

"We'll re-wrap the bandages and set it again," Kakashi says.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Sasuke asks, voice tense.

"Five to ten minutes."

"What if we didn't have five to ten minutes?"

"We'd have to—why?" Kakashi glances up and freezes.

"Because I seriously doubt we have five to ten minutes," Sasuke says, his eyes trained beyond something Sarada can see.

Everyone turns to see the exit to the lab blocked by a pale, looming shape that bursts into existence right in front of the steel door. It's so quick and quiet, no one would've noticed it had Sasuke not been staring in that direction.

Sarada's stomach drops as she recognises the wild-eyed ghost man from earlier that day. When his eyes lock with hers, his features pull into the furious expression she remembers from his last attack.

"She lived," he growls.

The black mark spreads across his face and, with a furious bellow, he lunges.

つづく

_____  

Yes, yes that was an I, Robot reference. Because that's just how I roll... ^_^

Comments and constructive criticism are much appreciated, and very motivating! For more information about supporting my original, non-fandom related works, you're welcome to check out my tumblr (Typewriter Ninjutsu)

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