"Something's wrong, Sasuke-sensei," Boruto whispered to Adult Sasuke, scratching his head in incomprehension. "We haven't even done anything yet, but Sakura-san is completely different! Is this really the past? Our past, I mean."
Unfortunately for him, Sasuke was just as stumped as he was, when it came to time travel. They had used Otsutsuki Urashiki's artefact Karasuki to follow him into the past to stop him from stealing Naruto's chakra, but the turtle had unfortunately run out of juice and entered sleep mode. It could no longer answer their questions, for the time being…
"We still don't know the extent of the situation, but we do know that this is where Urashiki fled to," said Adult Sasuke decisively. "Urashiki is our problem, and Naruto is still Naruto— even if this is not our past, it still falls to us to put a stop to his plans."
Watching Boruto and Sasuke whispering to each other conspiratorially in front of her was making Sakura incredibly suspicious. After getting a few of her memories wiped by a certain kunoichi, Sakura had become rather wary of time travellers.
Boruto and Sasuke were up to something; she was certain of it— but what could they possibly be after, here in the past?
'We need to find out what they're here for,' said Inner Sakura. 'There's no way they're here just to sightsee, right?'
"By the way, I didn't catch your names," said Sakura innocently, as she ran up to Boruto and Sasuke and inserted herself between them. "Why don't we start with you, mister dark and broody?"
Sakura felt Sasuke's body stiffen up the moment her left breast brushed up against him— and a fraction of a second later, he had vanished; using the fastest Body Flicker that she had ever seen in her life…
"I'm Boruto, nice to meet—"
"Like I care!" cried Sakura, grabbing Boruto by the shoulders and shaking him back and forth; like a mother would, to calm down her crying baby. "Where did he go!?Where did your friend go, shannarooo!?"
It was Mission: Clean up Senju Park all over again. Sakura had failed her first ever job as a Genin, and it certainly seemed like history was doomed to repeat itself for her first ever job as a Chūnin!
"I don't know!" said Boruto helplessly. "He just does that sometimes— but there's no need to worry, Sasuke-sensei wouldn't hurt a fly…"
Sakura was on the verge of having a panic attack.
Boruto-era Sasuke had just dropped out of the blue into her lap, and then, he had just up and disappeared. This Sasuke was a late-game powerhouse that was very much capable of opening a portal to another dimension and leaving her stranded on the other side for the rest of her life!
'Let's go find our Sasuke,' Inner Sakura suggested. 'Even if Future Sasuke finds us suspicious, he wouldn't dare to hurt his younger self, right?'
In truth, there was no reason for Sakura to be so paranoid— there was no way that Sasuke would ever hurt his wife, even if her past self's chest was larger than he remembered it being.
In fact, the reason Sasuke was being so evasive and distant around Sakura was precisely because he loved her so much. The more Boruto and Sasuke interacted with the world of the past, the more they risked altering the future— and the last thing Sasuke wanted to do was to wipe his daughter Sarada from existence…
"Oi, where do you think you're going?" Sakura snapped, grabbing Boruto by the collar. "You're coming with me— I've already lost one of you, so I'm not taking my eyes off of you!"
Boruto had been trying to sneak away— he couldn't afford to stick around Sakura, because his goal was to find and protect Naruto from the Otsutsuki who was after the Nine-Tails inside of him. If his father died before he could impregnate his mother, Boruto and his sister would cease to exist!
"Where are we going, then?" said Boruto dejectedly.
"We're going to see my teammate Sasuke," said Sakura with determination. "He's really dependable, so he'll know what to do!"
That was a lie— if Sakura had really wanted to find future Sasuke, then all she would have needed to do was pay Karin a visit and ask her to track down Sasuke's chakra signature.
"We are?" said Boruto excitedly. "Then what are we waiting for, let's go!"
Upon hearing that he was actually going to see his Sasuke-sensei's springtime of youth, Boruto immediately brightened up— he was incredibly curious to see his teacher's past self! Forget about saving his dad— Naruto could still afford to wait a few days!
As for Adult Sasuke, he was absolutely gobsmacked when he heard Sakura's words.
He hadn't truly left just yet— he'd been eavesdropping on the two of them from his hiding place on a tree branch above their heads. He'd simply wanted to make sure that Boruto would be fine without him before leaving, but what he'd just heard had shocked him to his very core.
Before running into Sakura, Sasuke and Boruto had spent a good amount of time walking around the Konoha of the past. They'd overheard many disturbing rumours about events that had never occurred in their timeline; such as the possibility of a war on three fronts against the Sand, the Cloud and the Sound, and the kidnapping of the Hyūga princess.
Sasuke had also fished a discarded newspaper out of a rubbish bin and obtained today's date.
Today was the twenty-third of September— the day following a day that he would never forget for the rest of his life. On the twenty-second of September, Uchiha Sasuke had fled from the Hidden Leaf and run off to Orochimaru, in his quest to obtain the power that he needed to defeat Itachi, his older brother… So how could his past self still be here!?
"Hmm, let's see," said Sakura, thinking to herself out loud. "On his days off, Sasuke often trains with Kakashi-sensei at the third training ground, so let's start there…"
Boruto was thrilled beyond words— on top of getting to see his teacher when he'd been young, he would also get to meet the Sixth Hokage in his prime!