Wispy white clouds float over the skies of Konoha, tainting the inky night sky white. Sarada activates her sharingan, but it's clouded by all the mist around the area. "No use," she thinks, lost in a district which seems more like a ghost town. She hears a scream piercing the air, as crows flock from rooftop to rooftop, one in particular who she notes to have eyes white as pearls.
Running down a corner, she sees two kids pass: both the age of Genin, the boy with a dual colored fan - a symbol she recognizes from somewhere, but does not remember the meaning nor significance. The other one looks to her like an Inuzuka, but none that she's ever seen. She loses them in mist, drawing a hoarse breath. "-Wait! Where am I?"
Upon losing them into the vanishing mist, she coughs. "Pesky civilian children."
"Who're you callin' civilian, lady?! One day, I'm going to become Hokage!"
She nearly jumps in shock, the kid who vanished in thin air standing behind her. Staggering and regaining her balance, she stands up to be met by the girl standing at shoulder height, giggling. Upon closer inspection, the boy has extremely dark eyes, but she can't tell under his orange-tinted goggles.
"Oi, Rin, what's so funny? Anyways, what are you doing stalking us like this"
He pauses. "Don't tell me your one of those pedophiles! I, Uchiha Obito, am already taken by Rin Nohara!"
Rin pulls him aside, then shakes him, scolding him. "I'm sorry, but what's your name?"
Dad told her never to tell her names to strangers, but these were her kinsmen. Plus, as a shinobi she thought she was more than capable of taking the both of them on. "My name is Sarada Uchiha, and I also hope to become Hokage! I never knew there were more of us, certainly not who call their kinsmen pedophiles!"
"You must come from somewhere else if not Konoha to not have heard of us before. You seem to have your Sharingan, right?" Obito says as his pupils dilate and form a pinwheel.
"Wow, that's so cool!", she shrieks.
Rin shakes her head, and unbeknownst to Sarada Obito whispers an apology into her ear.
Meanwhile, Rin hands her a map.
"Anyways, you're in the Uchiha district right now. Follow the red arrow to get out."
Sarada waves goodbye as the couple shares a stick of late-night dango. Before she realizes it, they're gone, their wispy forms vanishing into the mist itself.
"You're a bad actor," one of the crows castigates, shaking his head. "I only brought you here because I was decently impressed by the "encounter" you staged.
"I don't want to act like Madara again. No offense, Madara," he says while looking to his side. Standing there is not a crow, but a raven, covered in the red spots of carrion. Next to him is a falcon, eyes stern but pluming the feathers of the other bird, who squawks at him every once in a while. On his other side is a squirrel, and the aforementioned blind crow, who nods silently in response. Surrounding the blind crow is one with closed eyes, but not blind. Another, freckled with white but standing at attendance. The last identifiable crow is missing a wing, torn off from a fight with a hawk.
Looking at a drop of water, he realizes his reflection is discolored, and seems to lack plumage on one side of his face.
While this conversation goes on, Sarada walks from place to place, only to be greeted by shadows. They vanish and dance in the moonlight, spasming and jumping as the reflection off the nearby fountain causes waves of light. A certain white-speckled crow is at a pool with the stern one, but out of nowhere, a hawk flies down, nearly ripping the two down as they all scatter into the night sky.
Flying into the night, the hawk outstretches its wings, causing an eclipse of the image of the moon. The next thing Sarada knows, she sees an ANBU guard, mask worn and rugged, sword undrawn as he casts a shadow of darkness. Flocks of crows fly by the figure's side.
"Your Sharingan can see the truth, no? Then attempt to follow me."
Sarada jumps up to the rooftop as the man vanishes into the black night, but she trails his chakra signature. She attempts to throw a kunai at the attacking crows, but they appear to be ethereal.
Seeing him suddenly vanish, she takes her glasses off, turning around until she can see the chakra signature once more.
"Kawarimi or not, you can't fool me!" she yells, throwing a kunai and nicking the surface of the mask. The figure makes no attempt to dodge, standing atop the shrine.
"Who are you? One of the Foundation?" screeches Sarada.
'You have absolutely no idea how right and wrong you are. Sasuke sure raised a bright one.'
Picking aside his mask, he throws it to the ground, where it lands with a clang.
"...Dad?"
He shakes his head. "I am not your father. I am Itachi Uchiha of Konoha."
"Uchiha Itachi…." She pauses. "That's impossible! Uchiha Itachi is dead. He died protecting the village."
"...Unless you're one of Uncle Kabuto's Reanimations. But he gave his dream up years ago."
"While that could be true from a certain point of view, I guess Sasuke truly loved me so much that he dared to give you half-truths. If my foolish brother will not reveal the truth veiled in a layer of smoke, then I shall do it myself. Did Sasuke not tell you of that one night? Of Danzo? Or does he choose to hold it from you as a child?" he frowns, thinking of his admittal to Kabuto. Surely Sasuke listened, did he not?
'Foolish little brother, why must I correct your mistakes even in death?'
"And before you must ask, yes, we died a death long before your birth, some of us twice."
The raven and the discolored crow flew into his shoulders. "The Sharingan can see through the truth of the world. Go back to your father, and ask him if he knows of similar. Some people live their lives a dream, or only awaken from it on their deathbed."
A puff of smoke blows, powerful as a gale from a hurricane. Feathers drop to the floor and flutter down to the ground, as standing before her is the entire Uchiha Clan, in all their glory and sin.
The one with the longest hair grimaces. "Oi, brat. Tell this to Sasuke, to prevent the future from turning into the past. Tell him to recount our sorry tale. As for this stone pillar beside us, never read it. It leads only to deceit."
"Y-you're my family? And you're dead? But why didn't Papa…" She shakes her head and nods.
The one standing to the left of Itachi smiles. "Sasuke has grown a lot, that I which do not doubt, dear child. He only wished to hide the truth until you grew older."
The one on the right nods, a hard man with an expression as unreadable as an ancient text, a face as hardened iron. "I sent Itachi to the battlefield when he was your age. Be grateful, child. And must you never face despair by reaching these damned eyes-"
Another ANBU shatters his mask to reveal a pair of eyes with patterns unlike pinwheels but of shuriken. "-Though if you do, there will always be people to lead you away from the darkness."
"And, turn that darkness into light, says Obito.