Sarada raced home, not even bothering to push up her glasses as they slipped down her nose. Her black, tidy hair blew out behind her as she ran. Once she reached the door to her home she hesitated. Quickly she patted down her hair, pushed up her glasses, and replaced her wide grin with her usual content, timid air.
"I'm home!" She called out, taking off her shoes at the entrance. She turned the corner into the living room, her excitement barely keeping her from running.
Both of her parents were sitting there, apparently waiting for her to come home. Her mother, her pink hair having grown a little longer in the past couple years, with an even brighter smile than usual lighting up her face. Sarada quickly zeroed in on the person she was really looking forward to seeing: her father. He had a more serious expression, but his lips still curved up into a small smile. Her heart swelled with joy.
"Father!"
She dropped her school bag on the floor and ran over to give him a hug. She didn't even care about her mother's warnings that he didn't like displays of affection; she just wanted to hug her father.
She hated it when he left on his missions. She knew that they were important, but she hated it. All she wanted was to spend more time with him... was that so much to ask? All of the other kids at the shinobi academy didn't get it. their dads were always there for them. The only ones who remotely understood her feelings towards her father were Bolt and Himawari. But even they didn't get it completely; uncle Naruto was at least loving and affectionate towards his children during the small amount of time that he did get to spend with them. Her own father loved her, and she knew that. She just wished that he was more willing to show it.
She glanced at her mother out of the corner of her eyes. She smiled softly and nodded in encouragement; she knew what Sarada wanted to ask for.
"Father?" She asked tentatively. "I... I've been working on my ninjutsu and taijutsu and I was just wondering... Could I show you some of what I've learned?"
Sarada looked up at him with a hopeful expression, but somehow she got the feeling that he was reluctant to say yes. It's not that he wasn't a good father. Sarada loved him more than anything and was always desperate to get his praise. But with him gone on his missions for weeks or months at a time, she barely got to spend any time with him. Even when she did get to spend time with him, she always felt that he was distant from her somehow.
"Alright," he answered after a long pause. "Lead the way."
Sarada turned to lead him out of the house and towards her training area in the woods before he could see the wide grin spread across her face. She had set up her training ground in the Western part of the Konoha forest, not far from their house. There were multiple targets painted onto the trees and kunais stuck up from the ground, evidence of Sarada's training.
"Okay, watch this," She said to her father. He stood at the edge of the trees, watching her, as she grabbed three kunais in each hand and stood at the center.
She closed her eyes in concentration. Taking a deep breath, she crossed her arms over her chest before quickly opening them again to move into action. She leaped up into the air, throwing two of the blades as she did so. Once airborne, she spun around, expertly tossing three of the remaining knives in different directions. With one last twist before she missed the ground, she threw the sixth kunai.
Sarada landed in a kneeling stance, with her palm on the dirt. She looked up to see how she had done. The first five kunais had struck their targets perfectly in the center. The last had missed it's target.
Damn! Sarada thought to herself, angry at her mistake. I always miss the blind spot.
Her eyes moved to her father's still form, still leaning against the same tree in the same position. He was silent and looking at her with a strange expression.
Sarada tried to ignore the burning feeling of the tears welling up in her eyes.
"I-I've also been practicing my fire style," she added desperately. Before her father had a chance to respond she turned away from him and took a big sweeping breath, filling her chest with as much air as possible.
"Katon!" Sarada released her breath in a hot wave of fire. "Goukakyuu no jutsu!"
A blast of flames spewed from her mouth. The fire was of an average amount for a ninja of her age, but she was mortified that she hadn't been able to show her father anything truly impressive.
He walked over and ruffled her hair. He tried smiling at her but it seemed almost forced.
"Good work," He said. "But let's go back. Your mother probably has dinner waiting for us." With that he turned and began to walk away.
Sarada clenched her fists. She was angry and disappointed. Partially towards her father, but mostly towards herself. She didn't know much about her father's past. No one would tell her anything about it, nor the past of his family. Even her own mother had been infuriatingly vague on the subject.
But even Sarada knew- mostly from times when Uncle Naruto unabashedly joked about the past when everyone else seemed too nervous to talk about it- how strong her father used to be. When he was her age, he was at the top of his class. Sarada was by no means weak, but she wasn't exactly exceptional. She was in the middle of her class. She was at least proficient in ninjutsu and taijutsu. But there was nothing special about her, not like her father. All she wanted was to be like him, but she barely even knew him. And what little she did know, she couldn't achieve.
"Wait!" Sarada called. "You always go away so quickly... Won't you train with me?"
He hesitated for a long moment. Then he turned around and walked back to her.
"Alright," He relented. "But just for a little while. It's going to get dark soon."
Sarada smiled widely and threw her arms around him in a hug. After a small pause he hugged her back.
"Let's do an exercise to test your ability first." He said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shining silver coin. "See this?" He questioned. Sarada nodded. Without another word he turned towards the forest and threw the coin a far distance away. It sparkled in the dimming sunlight as it fell.
"Go retrieve the coin." He instructed her. "A ninja must be perceptive and observant. This will help you develop those skills."
"Right!" Sarada replied. She rushed off into the direction that he had thrown the coin, eager to find it quickly to please him.
Sasuke sighed as his daughter disappeared into the trees. It was difficult for him to act fatherly towards her and he knew it. He just hoped he did a better job than his own father had. With a sigh he sat down in the grass to meditate until Sarada returned.
The Konoha forest was huge. After all, it wasn't called the village hidden in the leaves for nothing. Lots of leaves meant lots of trees and those trees were making it difficult for Sarada to complete her task.
She had been searching for a while now but she just couldn't find that stupid coin. The sun was almost down and the whole forest seemed to have an orange tint to it. Sarada adjusted her glasses, a nervous habit of hers. She knew that she should head back soon. Not only did she not want to disobey her father, but she knew how worried her mom would be if she stayed out so late. She turned back in the direction of her training ground, but then she saw it out of the corner of her eye- a bright sparkle in the middle of a leafy bush.
Unable to believe her luck, she rushed towards the glinting object. The sun must have hit the coin just right to make it sparkle like that, and just as she was about to give up too! She couldn't wait to proudly return it to her father and-
Sarada's heart skipped a beat as she pushed aside the leafy shrub covering the shining object. It wasn't the coin, but a kunai stuck in the ground, and the paper bomb attached to it was burning up quickly.
Sarada had just enough time to jump out of the bomb's explosive range, but the blast of it threw her backwards into a tree. Her glasses fell off of her face and before she could react, rough hands were holding her down. She could feel rope being rapped around her hands.
"Father!" She managed to shout quickly before a hand clamped down onto her mouth.
"Damn brat," One of her attackers muttered, looking behind them nervously. "She'll bring that criminal here with all her yapping." Now that she was no longer dazed by the explosion, she could get a good look at them. Although she couldn't make out any specific details with her blurry vision, she could tell that they were three average men, clearly ninjas from their clothes and the way they moved, but none of them were wearing headbands. They didn't seem particularly sinister for three men who would ambush and capture a little girl. If anything they seemed nervous but determined to finish their task.
"If you're so worried, then shut up and let's go," The one with a beard who seemed to be older and in charge of the other two said. "It won't take him long."
The bearded man picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, and then they took off through the trees. Sarada's heart was beating fast in her chest; she was terrified of what was going to happen to her. This wasn't supposed to be happening to her. She had heard all of the stories of the past where there were horrible ninja wars, and children fought and died. But that era was supposed to have ended before she was born. So why were these people attacking her? She'd never done anything that would warrant something like this.
Her hands were tied behind her back, but she kicked out with her legs and heard with satisfaction a breathless "oof!" as one of her feet connected with her captor's stomach. He only faltered temporarily though, and was quickly flying through the forest once again. After that he kept a tighter grip on her legs so that she couldn't do any further damage. She was about to despair when she looked up and saw a figure behind their group, chasing them through the forest and gaining ground fast. Without her glasses, Sarada couldn't clearly see but she didn't have to to know who it was.
"Father!" She called out again. The three men stiffened at her words and glanced behind them fearfully.
"Crap!" One of the younger ones said. The three of them began to run at an even faster speed, sprinting as if their lives depended on it. But it wasn't enough; he was quickly catching up to them.
As soon as he was close enough, Sasuke activated one arm of his Susanoo. Sarada's eyes widened in shock. Even with unclear sight she could easily see the huge mass of light and fire that her father had summoned and she couldn't look away. It was the first time that she'd ever truly seen her father used one of his rumored powers.
The Susanoo hand reached out to grab the man in the back of the group, but before he could do so the leader yelled, "Now!" One of the other men quickly performed a few hand signs and he and the man holding Sarada disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Sasuke muttered an angry curse; a teleportation jutsu. If only he had acted quicker! But he never would have thought that a weak group of ninjas such as these would have such a jutsu up their sleeve. Sasuke looked at the hand of his Susanoo. He had at least captured one of the men, who was now quivering in Susanoo's grip.
Sasuke brought the man close to his face. Without even meaning to, his Mangekyou Sharingan activated and the man cringed. "Tell me," Sasuke said in a voice implying his thinly concealed power. "Where you are bringing my daughter."
Sarada and the other two attackers appeared at another spot in the forest. It didn't look any different to her, but she couldn't tell exactly where they were without her glasses.
The two men were breathing heavily, both from exertion and fear.
"Did we lose him?" He gasped out. He looked up and seem to realize that the other young man was not with them. "Where's-"
"He got caught," The bearded man said, and the younger paled in understanding. The old man took Sarada off of his shoulder and threw her roughly against a tree. "We've teleported to the opposite side of the Konoha forest. It's a far distance away, but it shouldn't take the criminal long to find us."
"Stop that!" Sarada interjected. They both turned to look at her curiously; they seemed equally surprised and amused at her comment. "My father is not a criminal."
The older man barked out a harsh laugh. Sarada only frowned at him as he finished chuckling. "Oh, little girl." He said, almost with pity. "If only you knew."
"Knew what?" Sarada asked tentatively. After a moment she shook her head. "Never mind that. More importantly, what do you intend to do with me."
The man looked at her for a moment longer. "Alright," he finally said. "I'll give you the courtesy of answering both of your questions together." He pulled out the katana at his belt. Sarada hands began to shake slightly in their bindings.
"We're here to kill you." He explained. "You Uchihas are simply too dangerous for us to just let you exist in this world. I'm honestly surprised that Konoha hasn't come to the same conclusion by now." He shook his head in disapproval. "They first forgave the Uchihas after Madara nearly destroyed the world. He only tried to destroy it once again years later, and came closer than ever to succeeding. I had though that after that demon Itachi, Konoha had finally learned its lesson when it came to Uchihas and their wicked tendencies... But no." He glared at Sarada as if she were to blame for everything he was explaining. "Those Konoha ninjas... They pardoned that evil rogue without so much as a word against him. I don't know if they were just stupid or cowardly, but it's inexcusable either way."
The second man, who had been nodding along to his partner's explanation until now, added his own say. "The Uchiha clan must be ended once and for all!" He declared passionately. "For the good of the world."
Sarada had no idea what anything they said really meant. She had never heard of those names before- Madara, Itachi- and didn't know what events they were referring to. But Sarada could infer that they were basically accusing her ancestors of evil acts, and for some illogical reason wanted to punish her for their actions. It all seemed very unreasonable to her.
"So maybe some Uchihas were bad in the past," Sarada began, trying to placate them. "But I'm not! I'm just a young girl... I'm not even that strong! There's no way I would do any of those bad things."
"Perhaps you are weak and good now," The older man replied. "But not for long. You are an Uchiha; you will gain power, and as you gain power you will inevitably be tainted by evil. It is your clan's curse." Sarada eyed the sword in his hand. He moved it as he spoke, too caught up in his hand gestures to remember the weapon he held. For now, he didn't move to attack her with it, but it would only be a matter of time.
"We're not stupid; we know that we don't stand a chance against Sasuke Uchiha. He is too strong. However, there is still a way to accomplish our goal." His mouth twisted into a disturbing smile that made Sarada not want to hear what he was going to say next. "It's simple. All we have to do is kill all of Sasuke Uchiha's children before they have a chance to become powerful. That much we can manage. That way when Sasuke dies, the Uchihas die with him- and we won't even have to fight him!" Sarada waited for him to go on, but this seemed to be the conclusion of his little speech. She felt simultaneously disgusted and terrified; these people were obviously crazy and had no idea what they were talking about. But what could she do to stop them from killing her?
The man lifted his sword into an actual fighting grip and walked to stand in front of her. He lowered it so that the tip pointed in the direction of her chest.
"Please, no..!" Sarada pleaded desperately. Her vision began to go even more blurry, probably due to the tears in her eyes.
The man merely smirked "I almost feel sorry for you, Uchiha girl." He stated and plunged his sword forward.
The superior grin stayed on his face for a split second longer, until he realized that he hadn't stabbed Sarada as he had intended. In the split second before the sword reached her, she had slid down the trunk of the tree and raised her hands up. The sword had cut through her restraints, freeing her.
The man watched her movements in shock. How did she have such good reflexes at such a young age? But he got his answers when Sarada slowly opened her eyes: they were pure red, the pupils surrounded by black dots.
As quick as a flash she flung out a leg and landed a kick squarely in the man's chest. He flew back a few steps, landing flat on his back. Sarada withdrew his sword from where it had been stuck in the tree and lunged forward, piercing him threw the chest.
"Don't you dare insult the Uchihas," Sarada stated calmly, her eyes narrowed as the life went out of his eyes.
The whole thing had happened too fast for the last remaining attacker to react, but now he got a hold of his senses!
"Y-you damned Uchiha!" He yelled, drawing the sword from his own belt and running forward to clash it against Sarada's. "You demon! Wretched, cursed girl!" He kept on scremaing at insults as they parried back and forth. Sarada tried not to let them get to her so she could focus on the fight, but it was difficult. She was a mere twelve year old girl. This man was much larger and stronger, and clearly had more training with a sword than she. He used this to his advantage and kept pushing her backwards.
At last he overpowered her, as Sarada fell to the ground, her sword knocked away.
He raised his sword over his head to deliver the final blow, a triumphant look on his face. But Sarada had one more trick up her sleeve.
"Katon!" She shouted. "Goukakyuu no jutsu!" A large column of fire shot towards the man, blowing him backwards and burning the arms that he'd reflexively used to cover his face. Sarada quickly drew a kunai she still had stashed in her clothes from training and hit him in a vital spot. As she withdrew the blade, he fell to the ground, dead.
Sarada was breathing heavily. She dropped the kunai and fell to her knees. What had just happened? She had just taken out two ninja who were not only much more experienced than her, but much stronger too. What Sarada didn't understand was how... Her strength and reflexes shouldn't have been good enough to beat them. The nerves that she hadn't had in the heat of battle finally made their way into her, filling her thoughts with fear and confusion.
Her hand habitually went to push up her glasses, but she only poked her own forehead. That's right- she had lost her glasses back before the men had teleported away with her. Her thoughts turned towards finding her glasses. She wouldn't be able to see without them and her mom would be so mad if she lost this pair-
Sarada froze and slowly blinked her eyes. She could see perfectly now, she slowly realized. She could see the details of every tree, every blade of grass around her. It was incredible. Even with the aid of her glasses she had never been able to see this well before.
She slowly stood up. Her knees shook slightly but she managed to walk over to a small pool that was nearby. She leaned over the edge to look at her reflection. She peered closer to the water, staring at her own eyes, and saw them widen in shock at what she observed. Her eyes were... strange. They weren't her usual black, simple eyes, but red ones with black marks inside. Frankly, they creeped her out.
Before she had a chance to think more on this unusual occurrence, a figure burst through the trees. But even without perfect vision, she would know who it was.
"Father!" She cried out, running forward to hug him. This time he hugged her back without hesitation. "Father, I'm so glad you're here."
"Are you alright?" He asked, pulling back to look at her. "How did you-" His voice caught in his throat as he got a good look at her face and Sarada knew what he was seeing. Those strange eyes; perhaps he was as afraid of them as those other two men had been. But from his expression she couldn't tell anything of what he was thinking or feeling.
Finally he took his eyes away from hers and noticed the two dead men on the ground behind her. And the blood on her hands. Sarada heard him mutter a curse under his breath, but he didn't sound angry. He sounded sad and... scared, almost.
"Father?" Sarada tugged on his sleeve tentatively. Wa she mad at her for killing those men? Was he afraid of her violent side? Or was he disappointed that, like the men had predicted, she had succumbed to her darker side?
Whatever it was, she couldn't tell. She didn't see his face as he quickly grabbed her hand and led her back through the forest.
"We're going home now," He said calmly. "And then we have some things to discuss."