A/N: I had to write this in response to Naruto 700-704. I've been wanting to do something like this for awhile, but haven't had time. It's my explanation to the nonsense that has been going on: Sasuke leaving his family, Sarada having never met her father, Sakura being vague and sketchy about Sasuke. I hope Kishimoto has a good valid explanation like this to justify their mess, because the way it is, Naruto 700+ aka Keeping Up With The Uchiha is proving to be a rather upsetting read.
Not much time on hand as I'm in law school now, but I've tried to include important points/theories even though there's not much action/dialogue as I would normally include. Also, it's obvious enough from the summary but this has sasusaku, so antis please don't read and flame me after.
Warning: SasuSaku, plus spoilers up till Naruto 704
For Sarada
Sarada activated her Sharingan when she was three years old. Both her parents were shocked. Overjoyed, but shocked.
Sasuke gloated about it to Naruto later.
"Oi, dobe. Boruto hasn't awakened his Byakugan yet, has he? Oh, by the way..."
Sakura approached Tsunade about it.
"She hasn't figured out how to deactivate it, Tsunade-shishou, it's depleting her chakra reserves, she's only three, she barely has enough to start with."
Sarada wasn't a genius like Itachi - those appeared only once ever few decades, or centuries - but when Sasuke began training her, it became obvious that her skill surpassed even his and Sakura's combined at that age.
Age 5 and Uchiha Sarada was good enough to graduate from the academy, if she so wished.
She hadn't even been enrolled.
"It's peace time." Sakura put her foot down. "I know - I know it was different for you, growing up. But if it's okay, Sasuke-kun, I want her to have a normal childhood. I want us to spend time with her before she becomes a trained killer."
Sasuke agreed.
When Sarada bounced up to him, asking if she would be joining the ninja academy this year, he poked her on the forehead.
"Sorry, Sarada. Maybe next year."
The Sharingan was still a problem. It grew stronger with age, draining more and more chakra. Sarada activated it sporadically, whenever she was feeling any particular strong emotion - happiness, anger, fear, hurt, sadness - and couldn't deactivate it until her chakra had reached low levels and she was near exhaustion. She couldn't control it and she couldn't control the toll it took on her body.
It strained her eyes, and she needed glasses.
That was still less of a risk than her passing out or dying of chakra overuse because she was enjoying a simple training session. Though Sasuke and Sakura supervised her training and made sure it never got too bad, the danger would only intensify as she grow older and her Sharingan stronger.
"Why is this happening?" Sakura asked her husband one night, as Sasuke pored over scrolls he had procured from the old Uchiha compound.
Sasuke didn't have an answer for her.
The power of the Sharingan was, for some reason, in Sarada's case, simply too strong. There was also the fact that she was only half-Uchiha, which possibly exacerbated the issue.
When Sarada was 6 - and had to be hospitalized for nearly depleting her chakra while playing tag with Boruto, Chouchou, Shikadai and Inojin - Sakura and Sasuke made their decision.
"I'll do it," Sasuke said, face grim.
Sakura's eyes were wet. "Are - are you sure, Sasuke-kun? She's your daughter, you always wanted to - wanted to revive the Uchiha and this - "
"There is more to the Uchiha than the Sharingan."
Sasuke would have transplanted his own eyes - Itachi's eyes - to Sarada if he could, and taken Sarada's himself, but there was a risk that it would only worsen Sarada's condition.
Sarada's Sharingan was sealed, and then she was enrolled into the academy. Now there was no risk of her killing herself from too many jutsu.
"Sakura. You need to get over here, now."
Naruto's voice was grim over the phone.
"Naruto?" Sakura sensed trouble. "What's wrong? What's happening?"
There was a scuffle on the other line, and Sasuke's voice filled the phone, panicked, edged with desperation.
"Sakura, come to the Hokage Tower now, it's Sarada, she - "
Sakura dropped the phone and ran faster than she ever had.
"The power of her Sharingan cannot be contained by the seal," was Tsunade's verdict.
"Is that even possible?!" Sakura demanded. "Change the seal! A more powerful one!"
She looked at Sasuke, her green eyes glinting. "You bound it, using your chakra, didn't you? Isn't there something stronger you can - "
"He can't, Sakura," Tsunade said, sighing. "The seal he used was already... ridiculously strong, stronger than one I would have expected someone to use to seal a dojutsu. It's not about the seal..."
"Then what is it?!"
"Her Sharingan is - " Sasuke clenched his fists. "It's synced with mine, somehow. My power pulls out hers. It activates automatically whenever she's around me. This time too, I was training her in the woods, it's all my fault - "
"Shut up, teme," Naruto whacked him on the head. "Stop blaming yourself."
"What does this mean?" Sakura's eyes were wide as she pivoted her head from Sasuke to Tsunade.
"I - I can't - be around her." Sasuke's voice was shaking with fury and something more, something which broke her heart.
"Sasuke-kun, that can't be the only way," Sakura said later that night as she curled into him, as they sat on the bench outside of Sarada's hospital room.
Their daughter would be fine - it was just chakra exhaustion - but the condition was risky, one which would turn lethal once she started training seriously to become a kunoichi.
"Are you sure it's because of your Sharingan?" she asked, when Sasuke said nothing.
"If it were just my Sharingan, I'd have it removed," Sasuke said finally, his voice cold, and Sakura stared at him, recoiling slightly.
"But that Sharingan is - Itachi's - "
"Sarada is my daughter - " Sasuke snarled.
"I know, Sasuke-kun." Sakura ran her hand down his back, soothingly. "What do you mean if it were just your Sharingan? What more is there to it?"
"It's - it's me, Sakura," Sasuke choked out after a few moments. "It's whenever she's around me... even when she's not around me, whenever she thinks of me... Tsunade-sama said something more, something about Uchiha love and family bonds, it's hinted at in the scrolls I read too, and the ones in the Senju library - "
"That - that doesn't make any sense - "
"It never did, with the Uchiha. Our dojutsu is enhanced by killing our best friend, Sakura. Is it so irrational that it is awakened by feelings of love for a parent sharing the same blood?"
"And this - issue - doesn't arise when it's me?"
"You're not an Uchiha by blood, Sakura, just by marriage. So no."
"A-are you sure? This all sounds very hazy, Sasuke-kun - "
"I'm sure, Sakura," Sasuke spat. "Even now, I carry the curse of the Uchiha name, I - I thought I'd revive my clan but my daughter can't even think about me without putting herself in danger - "
"At least it proves that she loves you that much."
Sasuke's eyes were red - but not with the Sharingan - when he replied.
"I already knew that, Sakura. It doesn't help."
He cried that night, only to his wife, and Sakura held him, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Do you really have to do this?" Sakura asked, a few days later. "I'm sure she'll forget you over time..."
"Do you know how upset she'll feel when she thinks I've abandoned her? With the Sharingan, that could drive her mad. It's better this way... better that she can't remember me at all, that I was gone from the start..."
Sasuke's voice was frigid, his countenance icy. He was closing off himself, once again.
"Sasuke-kun..."
"At least she'll be safe." There was a tremor in Sasuke's voice.
"Even if she can't remember her own father?!"
"I - I don't deserve to be remembered."
"Sasuke-kun - "
"For once I thought I might have some happiness with you, with her, but - my sins seem to be following me and - well, who was I kidding? There was never a single normal happy Uchiha family in the history of the world."
"Sasuke-kun." Tears leaked down Sakura's cheeks as Sasuke leaned forward and embraced her. She clung to him tightly.
"I'm sorry, Sakura," he murmured into her hair. "I know I said I wouldn't leave you again."
Sarada was 7 when Sasuke placed her under a permanent genjutsu, one that altered her memories and wiped out every trace of him.
Sarada wouldn't remember him at all: his face, his voice, his warmth when he hugged her, the small proud smile as he watched her flip over and hit targets perfectly with a barrage of kunai, his hands shaping hers and teaching her how to mold chakra.
Nothing.
"What'll you do?" Sakura whispered, the night before Sasuke left.
"Long-term missions. Naruto has a bunch he can offer me. You'll still be receiving the money."
"I don't care about that, I - "
"I know." Sasuke touched her cheek. "I wish you could come, but - "
"I can't leave Sarada," Sakura completed for him. "She needs a mother, at the very least."
"I'm sure you'll do well enough for both of us."
"Sasuke-kun..."
"Don't cry." Sasuke wiped a tear with his index finger. "I promised myself - I would never - make you cry again..."
"At least - at least Sarada - won't cry - "
"Because she won't remember." Sasuke gave a wry smile. "I could place you under genjutsu too. It would probably take out a lot of pain from your life."
"Never," Sakura said fiercely. "Never, I - "
"I'll visit when I can," Sasuke murmured. "If she asks about me just - just be vague. Don't give details."
"I - I know."
"You've hidden the photos?"
"You took all of them," Sakura pointed out.
It was true: their wedding photos, their family photos, photos of Sasuke holding Sarada - Sasuke had taken them all. He had requested the new Team Seven photo, the one that had been taken when they had been reunited after the war, and Sakura didn't have the heart to say no to him.
The only photos left were of Team Seven as newly minted genin... and one of Sasuke's old Team Taka, which he hadn't felt any particularly attachment to. Sakura had kept it though.
Sasuke had been years younger than he had been when they had Sarada, but she wanted her daughter to have at leastsomething.
"Take care of yourself. And Sarada."
Sakura nodded. "You too, Sasuke-kun. Please don't be reckless."
Sasuke nodded. "I - I can probably call you, or whatever. With these new phone things."
Sakura cracked a smile. "And here I thought you were resisting all of Naruto's attempts to get you technologically up-to-date."
"Well, I'll have a reason to use it now," Sasuke muttered, pocketing the small rectangular device .
"Remember to charge it regularly," Sakura said. "And no, chidori stream will not work."
"Right." Sasuke rolled his eyes, before his face tightened. "Well - "
"We'll figure something out in the meantime, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said. "This isn't permanent. We'll have her train to up her stamina until she can finally match it, and then she'll control it."
Sasuke didn't look like he believed a word she said, but nodded nonetheless, before kissing her.
"See you."
"I'll be waiting, Sasuke-kun. We'll be waiting."
Three years passed, and to Sarada, it was like she had never met her father. Those who knew were told to keep it a secret, and Boruto - who had been the only one of the children around enough to interact with Sasuke - also had his memories altered.
Sasuke visited two or three times a year between missions; contacting only Naruto and Sakura, both of whom would sneak around the village to meet him.
Sakura showed him photos of Sarada, and asked him if he wanted to see her in person - just look from afar - but Sasuke refused.
One visit, Sasuke was unusually tense.
"What's wrong?" Sakura asked between kisses. "You're never usually so worked up."
Sasuke shook his head, his Sharingan bleeding away into black.
"Nothing."
His hands moved to her unzip her tunic, and then at the skirt at her waist, and soon all else was forgotten.
Three months later, Sasuke and Sakura sat atop Naruto's head on the Hokage Monument, both of them drawn as tight as taut bowstrings.
"Sakura - "
"Sasuke-kun - "
"What?"
"You go first."
"No you - "
"I - "
"There's a new enemy using the Sharingan and I think they're after me, or Sarada, or both."
"Sasuke-kun, I - I'm pregnant."
They both stared at one another in shock.
"What - enemy - Sharingan - after you two - "
"You - you - you're pregnant?!"
"I swear I'll end them, Sakura," Sasuke vowed, pressing his forehead to hers, his hands caressing her belly. "I swear, I'll exterminate any and all threats before your child - "
"Our child - "
"- is born."
"I believe in you, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke sighed. "At least - at least Sarada will be less lonely."
Sakura watched him sadly. "How do you know she's lonely?"
Sasuke's hand moved to his chest, and he clenched. "I can feel it."
"You'll come back, before six months, right?" Sakura patted her belly. "It might not be the same case as Sarada, and youhave to meet - "
"I will," Sasuke interrupted her.
Sasuke scowled as he felt a presence approach the tower. His nerves was frayed and he was at his wit's end.
Just yesterday, he'd been attacked repeatedly by his new nemesis. Sasuke was ridiculously strong, yes, but fighting with one arm could get annoying.
Moreso, his new enemy was dangerously aware of his personal life. He'd been attacked first by one clone masquerading as Sakura - they had the chakra patterns, voice, expression, appearance all down perfectly - he'd almost been tricked, or perhaps it had been wishful thinking that made him believe Sakura had really come to him.
He'd broken out of it when he'd realized that Sakura was supposed to be 4 months pregnant, and even if she wasn't showing that much yet, her chakra was all wrong for someone carrying a child.
Sasuke had then dealt with the clone - well it was a more advanced technique than a clone, more like an enemy clouded in layers of genjutsu - still feeling a spasm of remorse as he stabbed his sword through the chest of the girl he loved, the girl he had sworn never to hurt again.
She's not real, he told himself.
They had never tried to trick him with Naruto - Naruto's chakra was too massive and even if the quality could be mimicked with genjutsu, the quantity could not.
No, the next person they had sent at him was Sarada.
Sasuke was flooded by emotion when he saw her - because it could be no other, judging from the face, the voice. She was older than what he last remembered, but Sakura had sent him photos, all saved on his phone. He'd run his battery down every night flipping through them, staring at them, running his fingers along the glossy screen.
And yet he knew it was just a trap, it couldn't be her, Sakura wouldn't let her leave the village and how would she have just found him like that? Still it terrified him that they knew, they knew about Sarada well enough to mimic her so well.
How was that possible?! They had never been in Konoha.
And yet, they had missed out on one crucial detail - Sarada had her Sharingan activated. His Sarada wouldn't be able to activate her Sharingan, not when he had sealed it away and erased memories of him from her mind.
And yet, her anguished cry of 'Papa' was like a sword through his heart.
Schooling his face into a mask of ice, Sasuke lifted his sword, and pointed.
A/N: Well that's where Naruto 704 ended, so I won't proceed. I'm guessing Naruto will intervene eventually and sort things out, and somehow Sarada will be able to control her Sharingan and Sasuke will defeat the enemies and move back to Konoha and they will all live happily ever after. I just needed to clarify that he is not an asshole that abandoned his family, in fact he loves them - and Sarada does know him, she just can't remember because of genjutsu. And Sakura is not so weak that she faints, she is pregnant and the Uchiha baby is also draining her chakra/strength.
Let me know what you thought in a review please! Also if anyone wants to expand upon these theories in a proper detailed fic, please feel free to, just credit me! I didn't have time to flesh this out in detail, but I think I got most of my points across. I know some of it (Uchiha love bonds etc) sounds sketchy but... well... I don't have much time and it seems a better explanation that "Sasuke is a dick" so I'm going to roll with it.