Only Time Can Tell

WITH INTEREST

"Huh." Well duh, he's his dad. I started praying that Sarada was almost done. In this moment, I am so happy that she's smarter than me. I saw Shikadai head peek around the corner of the tree, and his eyes grew wide.

Now, there are only 5 heads on the Hokage Monument. I couldn't help but imagine that this is what it was like when my old man grew up. Or even more, that this twerp actually IS my old man.

Thankfully before things could become any more awkward Sarada, Inojin, and Shikadai came out from behind the tree. I almost sighed. Sarada straightened her glasses. "We've had a really long day, we have to go and find our sensei before we can go back home, could you please point to where the Academy is."

The roads and paths around the Leaf had changed hugely. Sure everything looked generally the same, but the details were totally different. Buildings were shorter, and roads were rougher, everything was in different places except for the Hokage Monument.

"Uh sure." My dad pointed towards to Hokage Monument. "It's not far. Just go in that direction and you can't miss it."

"Thanks." Sarada grabbed my arm and yanked me away from Naruto. It's so strange, my old man, he's actually...a pretty normal kid.

Inojin dragged behind, unable to stop staring. "Wait..." He said. "Does that mean, I can go and hang out with my mom?!"

Sarada huffed. "Technically, yes. But you can't, if you do, there's no telling what might happen to us when we make it make to the future." She sighed again. "Believe me, there's nothing I want more than to see my dad. But really, we just can't risk that. Just now, that could have changed everything if this baka-" She stabbed me in the ribs, "had just flat out told him that he was his son. Baka!"

This time I didn't really have a comeback. I really could have messed things up back there.

"Well now what happens?"

"We have to figure out how to get back. But until then, I think we should find a place to stay."

"Are you forgetting? We don't have any money! What are we supposed to do, just hobo around all day?!"

"I'll figure it out!" Sarada insisted, pushing up her glasses. "You all just need to shut up and let me think!"

Everyone was quiet. But then I got an idea.

"Why don't we borrow money from our parents?" Shikadai narrowed his eyes.

"But you don't mean to borrow. You mean to steal."

"Well it would hardly count! We could pay them back in the future anyway! We're their kids, if they knew, wouldn't they want to help out?!" Sarada continued to say nothing.

"What are you suggesting? That we just go and rob them?"

"Well...yeah!"

"We shouldn't..." Sarada murmured, thinking hard.

"Well do you have a better idea?!!" Silence fell over us. We didn't have any money here in the past, none of us brought anything sufficient enough to buy a room in an inn for the night. So I couldn't think of anything else...

"We'll pay them back in the future...with interest!" Inojin said trying to persuade Sarada.

She sighed, cleaning off her glasses. "Fine, we will but with interest. But do any of us actually know where their parents keep their money?!"

Silence fell again, Shikamaru kicked up some gravel. Slowly, I raised my hand. "I kinda do."

My dad really needs to learn how to lock doors, if I thought he was a slob in the future...this is WAY worse. He left his windows open, his doors unlocked...even his refrigerator was left hanging open. Milk was spilled across the table. Past eaten ramen bowl containers were scattered across the couch. A kunai was sticking into the wall. Sarada stood guard outside the door, and Shikadai and Inojin were both looking out the window to make sure that Naruto wouldn't get here before I found it.

He should put his money in something less conspicuous. Honestly, a giant green frog pouch with it's lips zipped closed...it really sticks out. It was sitting on his dresser, with one of it's arms dipping into the opened underwear drawer. Wrinkling my nose in disgust, I picked it up.

The frog was surprisingly heavy. I almost felt bad, stealing from my old man. Seeing how he was living off of cheap ramen, he really valued his money, and was probably saving it for something. I shook it off, there wasn't time to feel sorry, besides he's a terrible father, I shouldn't even have to pay him back in the first place. I stuck the frog in my pocket, feeling it's weight press up against my leg.

"Boruto, please tell me you've found it!" Sarada said exasperated from behind the door.

"Yup, we're good, this should be enough." As I turned to leave, I was tempted to leave a note telling my dad to clean up his place. But Sarada said any interaction wasn't a good idea, so I rolled my eyes and joined her outside. Shikadai and Inojin followed.

"Now we've just got to find an inn." Looking out over the totally changed village...I knew that this was going to take a while...

It was dark by the time we found a reasonable inn. It turned out that my dad had saved several thousand yen, and we were able to buy 2 rooms, one for Inojin and Sarada and one for Shikadai and myself. Why Inojin gets to be it the same room as Sarada...I have no idea. Why should I care anyway.

We all met up in Sarada's room to talk about today. My head was still pounding with questions. How on earth did we get here? How are we supposed to get back?! Anyway, we all sat cross legged and stared at Sarada for answers.

"Well...?" Shikadai said. "You insist on being bossy, so...tell me you at least know what happened?!"

"I have some idea!" Sarada said sharply, crossing her arms. "That scroll that we touched. It probably had some hidden transportation jutsu, and it was up on that shelf for a reason. When Inojin and the baka over here-" she said gesturing to me, "fell on the floor, it probably activated it. When Boruto touched it...it must have started the jutsu. It sucked everyone within a 15 foot radius into the scroll and into this time period."

"....well....yeah. And what else?" Shikadai said, rubbing his temples.

"It's a forbidden jutsu, that can effectively...make time go backwards..." Sarada pushed her glasses up her nose. "My assumption is that the only way to get back is to either find the scroll in this time period, or find someone who wrote the scroll in the first place."

"Well!" I said collapsing backwards, exhaustedly. "THIS FRIGGIN' SUCKS!!!"

END OF CHAPTER 1

So....what do you think?! I really enjoyed writing it! So do you have any ideas for titles? As soon as I've got a good one, I'll put it on Wattpad. Sorry about Boruto's retarded swears. I ship them so hard! Anyway...if you liked this, let me know, and I'll get to work on the next chapter immediately! I've got a plot, a theme, a cast, and a complex world! It's gonna be friggin' great! Also, the Sharno thing...should I have Sarada do that? Ooooooh, there's gonna be combat in the next one! Get ready!