Back in Time (Naruto Fanfic)

History always repeats itself

Sarada woke up and hissed, rubbing her sore arms. She had failed. She would be upset...

Suddenly she had a sword inches away from her face and kunai aimed at her from all sides. "Who are you, and where is the real Sarada?" An unfriendly voice hissed. Sarada recognised it as Sasuke Uchiha, the man she called father, so Sarada was supposed to as well.

"Papa?" She asked wearily, acting as if she was her counterpart. "What's going on?"

"Don't lie to me." The angry Uchiha narrowed his eyes. "Where is my daughter? You're her clone. Where is she?"

Sarada made her eyes widen, and forced tears into her eyes. "Papa, you're scaring me."

Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan took the place of his normal onyx one. "Tell me. Now."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She made her voice quiver, trying to make her act more convincing. "Papa, what is wrong with you?!"

"Sasuke, you're scaring her." Sakura came over, sat on the bed beside Sarada, and glared at her.

Haruno Sakura. Her mom. Sarada's mom. Sarada had to act like everything was normal, like she was the Sarada they wanted.

Hah.

"Mama? Please, tell me what's going on!" Sarada exclaimed, hugging her 'mother'.

Sakura sat stoically as the girl hugged her tightly. "Sarada," She said finally, prying the girl's arms off of her. "You have to answer Sasuke's questions. Do you understand me?"

"Mama, what do you mean?" Sarada cried, in a last, desperate, attempt to keep her cover. She scooted into the corner of the bed and put a convincing desperate look on her face.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "I don't think you understand, Sarada-clone. This is my daughter I'm talking about. I'm willing to interrogate you harshly to find out what happened to her."

Sarada-clone's eyes widened, then her eyebrows raised. Realizing that there was no way to salvage this, she sighed and leaned back on the bed frame. "Alright. What is it you want to know?"

"Where is Sarada?" Sasuke asked immediately, sheathing his sword, but the people from the future, Shisui, and Itachi kept their kunai trained on the Sarada imposter.

"Somewhere safe. Well, from the outside. I'm not sure what's happening inside. I just receive my orders and carry them out." The clone shrugged.

"When did you and Sarada swap out?" Shisui spoke up. Everyone in the room became quiet. They'd all had personal experiences with Sarada, and knowing everything-- it was all a wood clone playing them would be tough to deal with.

"I'm quite sure it was a few days ago." Sarada-clone nodded decisively. "During your Akatsuki escape? You were talking to me off and on. Sometimes we would swap in and out to keep things normal and realistic, then she'd go back."

"She'd go back?" Itachi asked, surprised. Sarada wasn't a traitor, so she must have been brainwashed or something. "Willingly?"

The clone started giggling. It was freaky because it sounded exactly like Sarada. She giggled harder until it turned into straight up mad laughing.

"The wood clone idea was hers." The clone choked out helpfully in between her laughter, causing many gasps to ring out in the room. Including outraged shouts from Boruto and Mitsuki, who were outside listening in because they wouldn't let them in. "She orchestrated this whole thing so she could get away from you guys."

"She what?" Naruto asked, glancing over at Sasuke. It hit him hard. So hard, the Uchiha had to sit down. Sakura joined him, grabbing his hand.