"My name…" My voice shook as I used my nearly broken body to shield the three helpless genin behind me. They held fear in their eyes, but also hope. They trusted that because I was their jonin, I wouldn't let them die here. Even with one nearly dead, they still hoped I would get them out of here.

"Is Inari Uchiha!"

They didn't see me as a monster. Or a necessary evil. To them, I was their hero, their mentor, and their only hope.

"And you will never have the sharingan!"

"Inari!"

My eyes snapped open, seeing Sakura standing over me, worry in her eyes. "You were thrashing in your sleep again… is something wrong?"

I sat up in bed, looking her in the eyes. "Did I make any noise?"

She sighed, "No. I could only sense your chakra level spiking from out in the hall way."

I slipped my feet into my black sandals, shrugging. "Nothing I need to bring up to anyone then. As long as I'm not making noise in my sleep, it won't put any missions in danger."

She rested a hand on my shoulder as I stood up, her voice going firm. She might be soft around Sarada and me, but she was head medical ninja of the village. She had the most authoritative voice out of anyone I knew. "Inari, I know you don't like talking about things like this, but I'm worried. If you don't learn to deal with your stress, you're going to bring your team down. Sarada already has her exams coming up, she doesn't need to stress herself out more by worrying about you."

I prided myself on my skill at a blank expression, but with that low blow from Sakura, I winced. I had been acting as an older sister to Sarada since she was born. I had barely been six years old. From the moment she was born, I had been protecting her.

Sasuke had been off with Jugo and Suigetsu tracking down an enemy of the hidden leaf village. Karin had been helping Sakura give birth, a long a painful process I had the misfortune of hearing through the thin walls of one of Orochimaru's abandoned hideouts. Sasuke had given me clear instructions before he left. "Protect them."

At six years old, I had stood guard in that hideout, a sword much too big for me strapped to my back. I had no intentions to use the sword, however. I was better at ninjutsu than taijutsu… My sharingan had been awakened long ago, and that night, I had used it to its full potential.

It had been my first mission, and despite the challenges I had faced that night, it had been a success.

But it was only one of many missions Sasuke had tasked me with.

He had to come and go over the next few days, and before every goodbye was the same mission statement. "Protect them."

Sakura got stronger, and Karin didn't need to be by their side. "Protect them", now meant protect Sakura and Sarada. Days turned into weeks in that hideout, and eventually Sakura had to leave as well, to get supplies. "Protect them" turned into "Protect Sarada."

That mission had never ended.

When Sasuke left for a mission that he was sure would last years, he had playfully jabbed me in the forehead, and smiled. "You graduate next week, don't you?"

I nodded.

"Being a genin is an important role in the village, but hardly all you're capable of." He said. "When I get back, I expect you'll have already become a chunin."

I shook my head, "No, I'll be more than that."

"You have a mission while I'm gone." He said firmly. "Protect Sarada."

I glared at Sakura for a moment, then sighed. "I only have two days off… I don't want to spend tham arguing."

She softened, and seemed ashamed of the conversation. "Inari, I just… Ever since Naruto bought into that mission between the villages, that team you're on… it's changed you."

Ah yes… my team. "They're… different." I mumbled. "But Nanashi has good intentions… I believe he's going to do great things in this world. I want to be standing beside him when he does."

There was a quiet knock on the door, preventing the conversation from going any further. "Inari?"

I looked up to see Sarada standing in the doorway, grinning. "You're home!"

I smiled, "For the next two days at least."

She squealed in happiness, nearly toppling me over as she jumped on me. "Two whole days!? Really!? Can you help me train for my exams tomorrow?"

"Why do you think I took the time off?" I asked. "Meet me downstairs in ten minutes, we'll head out to the training grounds."

She took off down the hall. Sakura sighed, "I know I can't stop you from doing what you want to do… but please think of Sarada. What would she do if she found out who you're keeping company with?"

I grit my teeth together, glaring at her. Sakura was the closest thing I had to a mother. She had been so kind to me all my life. She provided for me when she had no obligations to. Lately it just seemed like we couldn't be in the same room for more than five minutes without arguing.

I walked over to my dresser, pulling out an outfit for training. A short sleeved black shirt with a high collar, and black pants. Sarada would often pick on me for my 'plain' wardrobe, but lesson number one for ninjas was to blend into the shadows. In my opinions, her colorful outfit wasn't really ideal for a ninja. The only color on my outfit was the Uchiha symbol on the back of the shirt.

Then again Naruto used to run around in an orange jacket and he became hokage.

Sakura forced a smile, trying to put the argument to the side for the sake of Sarada. "What are you going to teach her today?"

"She's excellent with her shuriken." I mumbled. "Her basic ninjutsu is good. It might be time to move onto more complex techniques."

"I already taught her how to release chakra from her fists upon impact… she could brush up on that. She uses a little to much chakra for me to say she's perfected it."

"I meant… teaching her some traditional Uchiha techniques." I wasn't sure what Sakura's reaction would be to that. She never had a problem with Sasuke teaching me things like the Fireball jutsu, or training me in the sharingan. But even with Sakura treating me like her own, deep down, I was not. And she might react differently to her real child being taught those techniques at a young age.

To her credit, she brushed it off. "Alright, but I don't want her coming home with her face all burned up and hair singed like you did your first day."

I chuckled, "That was mostly Sasuke's fault…"

LATER ON:

Sarada grinned as she made her clones disappear, "I'm not stressing the exams at all! I've got them in the bag."

I nodded, "There's no way you won't be graduating… why pull me out to train for it then?"

She sheepishly shrugged, looking at the ground, "Well… it wasn't exactly for training."

I raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

She sighed, "I just… I just need to know something, alright?"

I sat down in the grass, gesturing for her to join me. She did. "What's so important you had to fake a training session?"

"Who are my parents?"

I paused, "Why would you ask that?"

"Before you came home, I got into an argument with mom. She wouldn't answer me when I asked her."

"Why would you even question it?"

She pointed at her face, frustration leaking into her voice. "I wear glasses! Sakura doesn't! Sasuke never did!"

She reached into her pouch, pulling out a picture frame holding a photograph of Sasuke and Sakura. "See this picture? It's not just one, there's two."

She took the two of them apart, showing me. "Sasuke is standing next to this lady and… she's got glasses like mine."

I chuckled, "Sarada, you wear glasses because you got a fever when you were a baby."

She paused, letting the two pictures settle onto her lap. "I did?"

"Yeah. You got a really high fever, and the medics did everything they could. We were worried you might suffer permanent damage, and you did. Ever since then, your vision was bad. Your eye problems aren't in any way genetic." I explained.

She pondered this for a moment, "Then why didn't mom tell me?"

"It's a painful memory for her." I explained. "I mean, the head medical ninja, not catching her daughters fever before it got so bad she suffered permanent damage? She's always blamed herself for it. Not that it's an extreme condition or anything, but it just brings back bad memories I suppose."

She nodded slowly, "I just… why isn't Papa around?"

I sighed, "Are things so bad between you and Sakura you can't even ask her that?"

"I do ask her!" She hissed, "But she never tells me! She's always so vague, or just avoids the subject completely."

"Probably for the same reason, painful memories." I explained. "Listen, I'll tell you anything you want to know, but you have to promise me you'll stop asking Sakura these things."

She's my mother." Sarada said bitterly. "I should be able to ask these things."

"You should, but your parents are a very special case. There's a lot of history between them, and even I don't know all of it. But what I do know is most of it is painful. It's a miracle they managed to be together, in the end." I explained.

She nodded slowly, "So… why isn't Papa around?"

"Your father made a lot of mistakes in his life. Particularly when he was young. About your age actually." I mumbled. "We're not going to get to in-depth, for several reasons. Mostly because you're still his daughter, and you need to be able to respect him as your father. If you knew everything, you might not be able to understand. When you're older, maybe."

"Just tell me what you can, please!" She begged.

"Well, one of the mistakes he made was running away from the leaf village. It made him a rouge ninja. He committed several crimes against the leaf village, and in order to pay back his dept to them, he was basically charged with undoing everything he helped Orochimaru accomplish. Took years to accomplish it, it'll take years to undo it."

She blinked at me once, before collapsing onto the grass, groaning. "My Papa is a rogue ninja…"

"No, he just used to be one."

She groaned again, then sat up straight faster than I could throw a kunai. "Wait a second… then why isn't my birth certificate in Konoha's records?"

"Because you weren't born here." I explained. "Sakura used to travel with Sasuke, and she gave birth to you in one of Orochimaru's hide outs. Don't even think of trying to find a way to disprove that. I was there. I heard everything."

She winced, rubbing the back of her neck. "I guess I really made a mess of things, huh?"

"You didn't do anything wrong." I stood up, extending a hand to her, "Come on, I'll teach you a secret Uchiha technique."

She grinned, "The Sharingan!?"

I almost wanted to wince at her excitement. The Sharingan was a touchy subject for me. My parentage was no secret around the village, and my fathers name instilled fear in the villagers even to this day. My eyes, permanently showing the red and black colors of the Sharingan, were often met with fear and hatred. Which is why I always wore sunglasses, unless I was just around friends and family. The last time I had tried to walk around the village without them, I had just been a genin. Young and foolish, I had thought that if I merely showed the others that I was no threat, that I simply wanted to help protect this village, then I would gain their trust and admiration. Perhaps even companionship. But that hope was bashed very quickly. I had been met with threats and taunts and even physical assault by my classmates at the ninja academy.

While Sarada and I didn't share the same father, I often worried about how the villagers would react if she ever achieved her Sharingan. I hope she never does. She can become a strong ninja without it. Tons of people have, she could to. She might not like it, but it's honestly the best option for her.

"No, you can't teach the Sharingan." I explained. "Sharingan is only unlocked in a moment of extreme emotion. Usually fear or anger."

She cocked her head to the side, "What made you unlock yours?"

"Fear." I answered. "Moving on, what I'm teaching you today is the fire ball jutsu!"

Her eyes widened, "Really!?"

I nodded, "But first, we have to make sure that fire is your dominant element!"

"What's that mean?" She asked.

"Everyone has the capability to do water, fire, lightning, wind, or earth type jutsus. But everyone has a chakra preference to one stronger than the others." I took out a slip of chakra paper from my bag. "Just push a bit of your chakra into this, and it'll tell us. Either it'll get wet, split in half, catch fire, turn to sand, or crackle with electricity."

She took the paper, and within a second, it burned. She grinned, "Alright, what are the hand signs!?"

"No, no." I said, "Can't do it here. There's a special place with have to do it. Tradition and all that."

She sighed, "Nothing is ever simple with you!"

I poked her forehead, "Nothing is simple with any Uchiha."

She started to pout, so I changed the topic of conversation. "How have your classes been? Anything interesting happen with your friends?"

Her pout quickly turned into a grin, and she launched into a story about Boruto and her training together.