"Keep your breathing even and your heart steady. You will hit your target, but first you must feel it."
Sarada was on the training field, having a rough time with the shuriken practice.
Mama couldn't help her practice today since she had an emergency at the hospital, so eight year old Sarada was struggling to control the direction of the tools alone. Had her papa been home, he would have surely been able to teach her, unfortunately she hadn't seen him in years.
As she threw another shuriken, a blurry image of Sasuke popped into her head, distracting her. The tool flew from her hand and into the forest, far away from her desired target.
"SHANNAROOOO!" Sarada yelled smashing her tiny foot into the ground, making it shake as a small crack formed under her. The girl closed her eyes and with a resignated sigh sat down on her bottom facing the log that proudly held her practice target. "I'm gonna get you one of these days! CHA!" She yelled at the post shaking her fist threateningly.
She wished someone could help her with training. Unfortunately, no one was good enough at shurikenjutsu, and the only people that had amazing abilities in this field - her parents - did not have time for her. It was moments like these when she remembered her mama's stories about papa's prodigy brother - Itachi-ojiisan. The name haunted her little mind as it held great importance from the way mama spoke. Sakura would take Sarada to the Uchiha Memorial Wall, once a month, to pay their respects to Sasuke's family and to pray for their good rest. Sakura would speak very fondly of the connection between Sasuke and Itachi, from her childhood memories, when she'd watch them. She told Sarada about how Itachi helped Sasuke improve, how he carried him on his back when he was hurt, how he shouldered his uncertainty when Sasuke felt sad; but Sakura never told Sarada about the massacre..
Nevertheless, Sarada wished she could have had a chance to meet this uncle. He sounded like a nice person -
Before she could even blink, three shuriken flew past her head and hit the center of the target before her. Sarada's eyes widened as her jaw dropped, but she quickly jumped up, turned around, and took a fighting stance, her fists held high, her eyes trained on the young boy facing her.
"In order to hit the target, you have to see it before it happens." The boy said on a soft tone.
Sarada studied him, he was a bit older than her, maybe 3 or four years. He had raven black hair with two strands on each side of his head waving horizontally, so they looked like floppy cat ears. His skin was pale, and smooth looking; but it was his eyes that caught Sarada's attention. The boy's eyes were bloody red with three commas spinning inside a circle around his pupil.
"Sharingan.." Sarada muttered, looking suspiciously at him.
The boy's eyes widened and with a blink the crimson switched to ebony as his eyes went to their normal state of being.
"My name is Kizuna." The boy said, looking at Sarada from afar.
Sarada was eyeing him suspiciously, she knew her father and herself to be the only remaining Uchiha's, yet this boy's eyes just now were proof that that was no longer an available truth.
"I mean no harm." He said calmly, a gentle expression adorning his young face. "I was just watching you practice and I thought that maybe you would like some help."
Sarada was still guarded, even though he did not move an inch. It was as though he was waiting for her to lower her defenses.
Slowly, the boy turned around. "Look." One single word painted a picture Sarada was confused about. On this boy's back, there was the Uchiha fan, proud in it's red and white combination.
"I can't trust you just because you have a fan on your back." Sarada stated, raising her fists to cover her face. "Why do you have that crest on your back?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.
The boy turned back around and with a sigh, sat himself down.
"Does my label matter so much? Or are you curious about the inside of the box?" He raised his stare to her. Sarada's eyes widened again. "I'll stay here, in the meantime, take the shuriken I threw in that target and resume your stance." His voice was so gentle that Sarada found herself obeying the commanding nature of it without questioning at all.
She took the three shuriken and resumed her stance, just as he told her.
"Take a deep breath and imagine, just imagine hitting the target." He said as he got up and walked right next to her. Sarada jumped, but the boy just gave her a gentle smile. She calmed down instantly. "Each time a shinobi throws a weapon, he aims to kill or to wound. This is where precision comes from, however, a true shinobi only aims to protect and not to destroy.. so, when fixing your target, think of a person you love being in trouble, and the only way to save this person, is to hit that target." As he was speaking, Sarada could already see her mother wounded near the post, and her target was a dangerous assailant.
Sarada could actually hear her mother's voice screaming in pain, she could see the blood dripping from her mouth as she looked at Sarada pleading 'Please save me.. Sa-ra-da...' Sarada's body shook from every joint, and when the assailant raised his sword above her mama's head, Sarada's hand moved on instinct, throwing the tool right in the criminal's palm.
"Very good." Kizuna said, however, she's still in danger.
And truly enough, the assailant took a kunai with his other hand, prepared to hit Sakura's back with it. Sarada's eyes narrowed as the adrenaline rushed through and she threw the other two shuriken, hitting him in the hand and in the neck. The criminal fell to his knees and the illusion dissipated as Kizuna deactivated his sharingan.
"That.. was sick." Sarada concluded, hands on her knees as her back bent. She turned her head to look at him. "But thanks."
Kizuna smiled and turned around. "I will be taking my leave now." These were the last words Sarada heard before he disappeared into thin air, only a puff of smoke marking the fact that he had ever been there.
"Heh." Sarada straightened herself. She knew that he was still close. "MY NAME IS SARADA UCHIHA! IT WAS NICE MEETING YOU!" Sarada yelled at the top of her lungs, after which she just let herself fall on her back on the grass and smiled.
"Why is it that every time I'm around you, I feel alive?"