#ive always liked the kids relationship in boruto better anyway

[syrasenturi]

I was thinking about catching up on boruto and earlier saw a video of Sasuke fighting an actual dinsoaur so I think I should

[cartoonrival]

ive talked about this one million times but heres my canon compliant timeline between the end of shippuden and the start of boruto

sasuke leaves on his shit trip because he thinks its a trip for atonement and in order for it to count as atoning naruto can't come with him, since atoning is something you're supposed to do solo and is synonymous with suffering. if naruto comes with him he won't be suffering.

naruto is not in love with sakura anymore

hinata is still in love with naruto

naruto isn't really doing anything. he feels sort of aimless. he still wants to become hokage obviously but he's not chasing sasuke anymore and since sasuke is technically "saved" he doesn't really know why it still feels like there's a hole in his chest. kakashi is hokage right now anyways. so in the meantime he'll just train and help rebuild/reconnect. iruka forces him to study.

hinata gathers the courage to ask him out. he's flattered, and says sure because she's nice and she wants to, and he doesn't think he DOESN'T want to, so .. sure. ok

hinata and naruto are dating. this is fine i guess. people seem happy for them, and hinata seems happy so he supposes he must be happy too. sasuke is fine. they exchange letters, but the turnaround is slow. naruto keeps all the letters he gets from sasuke but he isn't really sure why he's doing it. sasuke's fine now!

hinata proposes. naruto is flattered, and says sure because she's sweet and she's nice to spend time with. if she wants to, sure. everyone is really excited and happy for them. he figures marriage must feel like less of a big deal when its yours than when its someone elses.

he sends a letter to sasuke saying that he's getting married. he didn't really tell sasuke that much about his relationship with hinata, which wasn't exactly a conscious decision, there was just other stuff he'd rather be telling sasuke about.

sasuke sends back a letter that says nothing other than "CONGRATULATIONS" in big text. he isn't at the wedding, even though naruto told him when it would be. that's fine, he's busy. he's fine now, he's allowed to be busy. he's bettering himself and it's gonna be good for him. naruto wonders what it would've been like if sasuke was there, and he tries to pretend he's not scanning the crowd for him during the whole event. kissing hinata has the same emotional impact as giving a high five. why do people make such a big deal out of this sort of thing?

sakura has been talking for a while about how she misses sasuke. she and naruto both feel a little lost without building their lives around his rescue.

sakura gets restless and frustrated very quickly when she doesn't have something she feels like she's working towards or something to structure her life around. she decides its been long enough. she wants to bring sasuke home.

naruto wants to come with her, but sakura tells him he's married now, and he should stay home with hinata. this seems like it makes sense, and both of them believe it, so he does. sasuke's fine anyways. the letters are spaced further apart.

sakura finds sasuke outside the land of fire based on information from kakashi. he's surprised to see her, and doesn't tell her to leave, because despite everything she represents a piece of home that doesn't hate him. they don't really have a lot in common, but they both represent something that the other can't get back.

sakura confesses for the same reason she always does, which is because she wants something that doesn't exist but she's hoping that she can lie to herself that it does, and sasuke remembers naruto and hinata and says "okay" even though he doesn't really remember telling his mouth to say that word

when sarada is born, sakura convinces him to come with her back to konoha. out on the road is no way to raise a child anyways, and he's not so stupid that he doesn't know this, so he says okay, and he comes back to konoha even though walking through the village feels like being stripped naked over and over

naruto has a kid now too, with a stupid name. he looks just like his dad, and sasuke doesn't even mind holding him.

being back in konoha makes sasuke want to rip out his hair. he feels suffocated, and no one who glances at him on the street is too shy to remind him that being forgiven by naruto will never mean forgiveness from the rest of the world.

at the very first sign of a chance to leave konoha, he takes it, and he leaves without saying goodbye. he tells himself it's because the mission is time sensitive, but he still has time to see naruto before he goes. he decides that sakura is better with kids anyways. she's always taken care of sarada more than he did, mostly because he strayed from home as much as possible

10 or so years pass, boruto begins