You guys know how I said the Naruto fandom's reaction to the ending of the Naruto manga made me hesitant to get back in it and read the Gaiden manga? Well…I may have started reading it. I blame Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution, by the way, and PSN for having a Golden Week sale special with it being $25, and me for not stopping loving Naruto despite me hating what happened Madara was kicked out of the "Final Boss" position. *sob*
…Anyway, I think this was inspired by Sarada's little issues in the Gaiden. This was originally some silly fic written for a mental reboot of Naruto X (as in it would never happen outside of my mind and computer), but it wound up becoming something with Sasuke and Sarada. So enjoy Uchiha family bonding with fire. As for when in the series timeline this takes place…I dunno. Imagine for yourselves.
Disclaimer: Blu Rose doesn't own the Naruto series, just this little fic.
X-X-X
Sarada may have been an Uchiha, but there was little she knew about her father's clan beyond its touted Sharingan. In fact, for most of her young life, there was next to nothing that she knew about her clan or her father. So to have her father tell her that he had something to show her was a delight—though she tried not to show it so she wouldn't look foolish. Her father then led her to a part of Konoha that she didn't know existed: an utter ghost town with empty streets and abandoned homes, and the only familiar sight being the occasional red and white fan painted on walls. Eventually, Sarada was led to the back of an abandoned home, on a dock over a lake.
"The reason I brought you out here was to teach you a jutsu," Sasuke began, bringing Sarada's attention from the lake onto him. She watched as he quickly formed a string of hand signs before he took a deep breath and blew out a giant ball of flame over the lake. His daughter couldn't help but stare in awe even after the flames fizzled out and they left behind waves of steam rising up from the water's surface. "That is Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu. It's a jutsu that was used as a coming of age rite for the Uchiha clan, who naturally excel at Katon jutsu."
"Coming of age…" Sarada mumbled. So basically, her father considered her worthy of being seen as an adult in his eyes—an adult Uchiha, in fact. Though she didn't express it, a part of her was happy about that.
"First, you have to…" For the next couple of minutes, Sasuke instructed Sarada on how to accomplish the Gokakyu no Jutsu: the hand signs, how the chakra had to be molded, how its scope of attack could be changed by controlling the amount of chakra mustered. "Now you try."
Sarada did as he instructed, molding most of her chakra into her chest. When she took a breath and breathed out flames, she was disappointed to find that it was smaller than the one her father created. The small ball of flames was slightly larger than her hand, but its size wasn't even a quarter of the fireball he made. The raven-haired girl looked back at her father, unable to hide her disappointment with her performance.
"It's alright if you don't get it on your first try. It's a C-rank jutsu that involves changing the nature of your chakra to that of fire. An average genin wouldn't be able to perform it their first time." Although Sasuke's words were probably meant to comfort her, it only rubbed salt into Sarada's bruised ego. An average genin… Was that all she was? As she glared down at dock, she was surprised when she noticed her father crouching down in front of her. "The reason why I wanted to show you this jutsu is because I'll be leaving soon for a mission, and I'm not sure when I'll be back. So I want you to keep training hard and practice until you succeed at it, alright?"
"O-of course! Don't tell me such obvious things because you think I'll just slack off! I'm not a moron like Boruto or something!" Sarada snapped despite being internally giddy that her father was encouraging her to do her best. After that, her father led her back out of the district and disappeared with a short farewell. The raven-hired girl clenched her fist and stared up at the sky with a look of determination. Rather than going back home, Sarada found herself retreating back into the abandoned district to work on that jutsu.
X-X-X
Two weeks later, after finishing up business with her team, Sarada quickly made haste towards the abandoned Uchiha district with the intention of practicing her Katon jutsu once again. She didn't know why, but she felt better about practicing her clan's coming of age rite in a place that had some connection to them. The only person she told that she was coming here to do this was her mother, who was initially off-put about it for some reason, then later became increasingly annoyed when Sarada would come home sporting burns from her attempts at perfecting it. Put Sarada could put up with her peeved mother if it meant performing well in front of her— "Father!"
The Uchiha girl was shocked to find her father nonchalantly standing in front of the entrance to the abandoned district with his arms crossed and his head down. "Your mother told me you'd be here. So…have you been training like I told you to?"
Sarada huffed and held her glasses. "I would've trained even if you didn't tell me to, you know!" She spoke as she walked past him and officially set foot into the district. "Let me show you how I've improved!" She found herself leading him to the dock in back of that old, abandoned mansion with confident strides—the total opposite to how she felt on the inside as she hoped to not make a fool of herself in front of her father. With a silent hope of an excellent performance, she fluidly weaved the hand signs, molded her chakra, took a deep breath and…
Sasuke's eyes widened a bit as his daughter breathed out a massive ball of flames over the lake, far larger than her initial effort. The dark-haired girl sucked her teeth, annoyed with herself that the fireball was still smaller than her father's. While she was busy staring out at the lake and chiding herself for not having gained more chakra in the last couple of weeks, Sasuke approached Sarada from behind and patted her on the head with a smile on his face. "Excellent work, just like I expected of you, Sarada."
In a few seconds, Sarada's expression went from surprise, to joy, to smugness. She turned on her heel to look at her father with a smirk as she adjusted her glasses. "Of course! I got a hang of that jutsu more than a week ago, so I started working on other Katon jutsu as well. Eventually, my Gokakyu no Jutsu will be even bigger than yours!"
"Is that so?" Should he have told her that he wasn't using that much chakra when he first showed her the technique because he didn't want to burn down the area? …Probably not. Let her have pride in her accomplishment. "Well then…" Sasuke poked his daughter on the forehead. "Don't get cocky and slow down in your training."
"I don't need you to tell me that!" Sarada snapped, but by that point, her father had already turned and began walking away. After she huffed in annoyance and stared at his back for a few seconds, she ran to catch up to her father's side. She wasn't aware that she had a bit of a hop in her step or a small smile on her face the entire walk home.