Author's before notes: Good day lovelies! I admit I scrapped and rewrote a few things as it progressed, and as previously stated this is un-proofread, so please be gentle in your correct. I know some of you have been waiting and have probably given up, so without further ado, enjoy 3

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

"Sarada, how is your mom doing," Mitsuki asked, weeks later since the public had found out about the separations of the Uchiha and Uzumaki families and the reason behind it, during lunch.

Today found Team 7 sitting at the park under a tree, taking their break from a D-class mission. As much as the Uzumaki boy hated trash cleaning around the parks of Konoha, he could admit that he enjoyed the afternoon lunches under the trees. After all the chaos, the young genin were finding more pleasure in the smallest enjoyments of life that they usually took for granted.

As everyone involved had expected, once word had gotten out (which wasn't long since Sasuke wasn't seen far from their Hokage in recent days), it had spread like wildfire, and not just across Konoha. Even though it had been a short few weeks, visitors and long distance friends were reaching out to confirm the rumors that were spreading. According to some, there had been several Shinobi across the political world who had lost bets that had been placed upon the two prestigious men.

Both women seemed to have no care about the whispers and chatter that occurred wherever the Hyuuga Princess and Medical Director went. However, children were more perspective than adults were. As the Uchiha quietly took another bite to give her time to find an appropriate response, Boruto watched his teammate closely. In some ways, the blonde had to admit that it was fun to watch the wheels turn in his teammate's head. It was almost like you could physically see on her face the wheels turning her brain. However he had to admit he was curious as well. He knew how his mother was doing, which he questioned himself, but the pink haired Director was a very different person than his gentle mother.

"Mom," Sarada trailed off for a moment as if deciding on what information was appropriate to share. "Isn't doing well. She's spending even more time at the hospital, and if she's not at the hospital, you can find her one of two places. First is at home with multiple bottles scattered around her empty, and the second is at any of the training grounds, pulverizing the earth until nothing is almost left. She's either angrier than a bull, or drunker than a skunk. I'm not entirely sure how to help her. She isn't sleeping either lately unless it's because she's had too much to drink."

The team shared a moment of silence as each child took another bite to process the information that Sarada had shared. Then, quietly, as if unsure of whether he should share, Mitsuki spoke softly, "I saw something interesting a while back. I was passing the training grounds to head to the gates for a mission when I saw Rock Lee embracing your mom while she was crying really hard."

Sarada stiffened at the implication while Boruto choked on his mouth full of food. Sarada turned her dark gaze upon her teammate but allowed silence to stretch between them as she tossed around the idea of Rock Lee and her mother. In truth, the young Uchiha didn't know a lot about Konoha's Beautiful Green Wild Beast outside of rumors. She always assumed the man was nice, after all his son, Metal, wasn't too terrible of a person and he was progressing nicely as a genin. The boy had even come a great deal with his stage fright, which considering how paralyzed he used to get, was saying something. However, her knowledge of the Green Beast was limited.

Though if the young heir was to admit, she was starting to suspect that might be true of the entire generation before theirs. Their Hokage, her father. The whispers of lives lost during the War. From her understanding of history, there had been powerful, strong ninja's who had passed. Some with strength that had not been seen since. There was a voice in the back of her head that Sarada tried often to silence that always whispered to her. Perhaps our generation is over all weaker simply because of peace.

It was a traitorous voice that made itself known in her weakest moments.

"I admit that I don't know much about him," Sarada started, her eyes having shifted to stare down at her lunch. "But, mother let him hold her? While she was crying?"

"Hn," Mitsuki responded in confirmation.

"Then he might be worth looking into. Especially if she was crying," Boruto suggested, leaning on his crossed legs in thought. "Your mom doesn't strike me as the type of woman who would just let any man hold her, much less see her cry."

Sarada nodded her head in agreement as she swallowed her drink. "I haven't seen mom cry in a long time. Even when she's drunk, she just sits there, staring into nothing as if she's lost in her own head. It's like she's awake, but the lights are off, nobody is home."

Which found team 7 following the Jounin for several hours. They found that the man was loud and boisterous, but kind and seemed to always want to help. The genin had found themselves impressed as they had followed him to the training grounds and had watched him practice his taijutsu, which Sarada could admit was slightly terrifying. They had also found that the man was quite open with his affections with his son as well and Sarada could feel positive energy radiate from father and child with a fierceness that was intimidating.

However, as they watched the pair spar, Rock Lee seemed to have patience with his offspring that team 7 was not familiar with. Even when the boy failed the worst to complete his father's demands, the older Bushy Browed man never got angry. It almost seemed as if he understood the struggle that his son was experiencing, but how could that be? He was one of the best taijutsu fighters Konoha had to offer.

It was only later, after inquiring about Rock Lee from their Sensei did they learn the reason. Because Konoha's Beautiful Green Wild Beast had once broken his bones beyond possible repair during his Chunin exams. That it was only with the ability from the Godaime and his own determination, had his bones and muscles been reknit together and his taijutsu ability restored. To have your future taken from you with nothing left… It was a feeling Team 7 was beginning to understand well by now. The desire to get stronger. To protect the people closest to you, a risk of death was sometimes needed.

Therefore, that evening, when Sakura had not returned home from the hospital Sarada went in search of the Director. Since her shift had ended several hours ago, Sarada started with the training grounds as she knew that Sakura would sometimes go there first after a particularly hard day. She was proud of her mother, especially for the work that she put forth for the traumatized children of the ninja world.

With the defeat that had come initially from Deepa, Sarada was beginning to understand that treating the trauma that comes with the world was important. Afterall, deep inside, she was starting to suspect that her own restless nights stem from the harsh truths that she has been forced to learn since graduating the academy. It made her wonder what other deep issues lay in wait in the adults minds who went through the blood and carnage of war, and of the children who had been left behind.

While she could admit that it unsettled her, Sarada was determined to turn those feelings into a strength that she could use. She just wasn't quite sure how she was going to do that yet.

Returning her awareness to her surroundings, Sarada noted that she had arrived at the training grounds of Konoha, but there were no sounds of battle. Even as she walked through the grounds, there was no damage, no chakra, nothing but silence and the sound of her own footsteps.

Wait, no, that wasn't true. She could barely hear it. The sound of metal hitting metal, muffled by the sound of the waterfall that she knew was here. It was one of the few locations that had been remade after the war, though most people went there to relax, not to spar. Sarada walked into the forest, listening for the sound of metal clinking to get louder. However, not wanting to distract whoever was fighting, the young Uchiha remained hidden in the trees as she moved.

As the waterfall came into view, so too did two blurs, one green and one red, separating and coming together with the clanging that had drawn Sarada to this place. However, her plain eyes were not able to keep track of the two blurs as they moved, so Sarada activated her Sharigan and quickly muffled a gasp as the two figures motions slowed down under her gekkai kenkai.

Before her, Sarada's pink hair mother was covered in dirt, grime and blood. Her arms were covered in small slices and her shirt, almost quite literally, was hanging on by a thread with tears scattered throughout the material. Blood smeared near her lips and there was at least one gash or two on the Uchiha's face. Sakura's hair had a few sticks in it but her expression…. Was not one that Sarada could say she had ever seen on her mother's face. Cold and determined but her eyes were fierce, calculating, happy, focused, sober. Her breathing was ragged, yet strangely even. As if she had been fighting for a long time but was still able to maintain control.

The jounin known as Rock Lee, for who else could he be as the spitting image of his son, was not in a much different condition. His green jumpsuit had rips and tears scattered from head to toe and blood could be seen of varying levels of heaviness, but his usual orange attachments were missing. His speed was faster than anything Sarada had seen in Konoha before. His expression much matched her mother's, however something in the man's eyes made the girl pause.

They were also fierce, focused, happy, but they were soft. Sakura's eyes were hard, and upon closer observation, Sarada noticed that there was a distance in her eyes, almost as if Sakura wasn't really seeing Rock Lee. That was when the young Uchiha realized that underneath the initial happiness her mother's eyes reflected was the flame being fueled by an anger stronger than the grief that now seemed not far behind. However, in the Konoha's Beautiful Green Wild Beast eye's, they held almost a fondness for the woman they gazed upon. Almost as if wishing for her to do her worst. To allow him to take her grief and channel it for her as her tool, however she would allow.

As the image of these two ninja sparring burned itself into her memory courtesy of the Sharigan, Sarada forced her gaze away, feeling embarrassed and almost as if she violated their privacy. She felt like what she had just witnessed in the moment of time when slowed down, was far too intimate for her, muchless anyone else, to have witnessed.

Knowing that her mother was at least safe for now, Sarada turned away and as quickly and quietly as she could, scurried away. She did not want to impede on what seemed like a sacred time for her mother.

That woman suffered enough because of their family.

If a little bit of time sparring with someone who can look at her like that could help her, then so be it.

Notes:

I know I have been away from some time, and still both this story and the one that started it, It's In Their Eyes, are still getting follows and favorites, and I love you all for it. I have been dealing with major depession issues, work stress, family having covid (no one within my own household thankfully), writer's block, etc and it all sort of piled on top of each other until... well, let's just say that my world has not been that great lately. So thank you for reading this and sticking around. I will try to be more diligent but unlike some of my favorite authors that I read here, I do not have multiple chapters in line to upload. I am far too much of an impatient person for that, so as I have the inspiration to write and complete, you receive them almost immediately. I hope you can understand and forgive such lateness. I hope to see you for the next one 3 Stay safe out there