Chapter 7
Sarada Uchiha's POV:
She woke exhausted, she had trained late into the night trying to prepare for the upcoming chunin exams and hadn't got home until well past midnight. At least she had been able to master Konohamaru-sensei's shuriken shadow clone jutsu and the shadow shuriken jutsu combined with her lighting style. She lazily exited her room still half asleep and made her way into the kitchen. As she entered the kitchen she stopped in her tracks. There standing in the kitchen was a tall shirtless blonde man making some tea in the electric kettle.
Sarada yelled, "Who are you and what are you doing here creep, Shannaro!?" She leapt towards the startled blonde man with her right fist raised.
The man said, " Oh crap," as he ducked to avoid her punch.
Due to his evasion she missed and her fist was buried deep into the wall She thought to herself, "He is fast", as she pulled it free and prepared to turn around to launch another attack. But as she was moving a rush of wind blew against her skin and she felt one hand grab her left arm and pin it to her back while another grabbed her shoulder. She tried to escape by enhancing her strength with her chakra but the hands would not loosen their vice grip on her. Sarada thought to herself, "He is using the same chakra enhanced strength as mom and me, his strength is comparable to that of mom's".
The Blond man said, "Calm down, I'm not a home invader and I'm especially not a creep, dattebaro!"
Sarada was surprised by the vocal tic, thinking to herself, "That sounds like Lord Seventh and Boruto's vocal tic". She asked the blonde man, "Who are you?"
The man responded as he began to slowly loosen his grip ever so slightly, "I'm Uzumaki Shinachiku, but you can call me Shina. You must be Sarada. It's a pleasure to meet you, dattebaro".
Sarada was now even more confused, "Uzumaki? Are you related to Lord Seventh?"
Shinachiku responded with a sly smile, "Yep, I'm the long lost love child of Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno, who was raised by the toads of Mount Myōboku, and I've come to meet my family".
Sarada's eyes went wide as she yelled, "WHAT!?"
Shina burst out laughing with tears beginning to form.
Sarada heard rapid footsteps and then she saw her mother arrive. Sakura asked, "What's going here!? Shina, what are you doing to Sarada!? Sarada, what happened to my wall!?"
Shina responded first, still fighting back the laughter and tears as he released his hold on Sarada, "I'm sorry Sakura-san, Sarada saw me making some tea in the kitchen and she was surprised to see someone in the kitchen. She tried to attack me, then she hit the wall, next I pinned her arms to put a stop to that and asked her to calm down, and then asked who I was." Shina had a twinkle in eye as he continued then I couldn't resist the chance to pull a quick prank, so I told her that I was your secret love child with Naruto raised by the toads of Mount Myōboku." Shina turned to Sarada and said, "I'm sorry Sarada, but I couldn't resist doing that to you. I figured since your chakra signature was so similar to the Sarada in my timeline, that you would also be pretty easy to prank and she is always so adorable when she gets flustered. I usually let Hanami be the prankster though, since she is better at it than I am".
Sarada was even more confused than ever, she turned to her mother, "Mom, what the hell is he talking about?"
Sakura sighed and then explained to her what was going on and the events that led to that morning. Sarada couldn't believe what was going on. This blonde stranger was from another timeline where the events leading up to Neji-san's death split and created two separate timelines and that she had a counterpart in that timeline born to her dad and the redheaded woman she had thought to be her real mother at one point. In that timeline she had a brother and sister, a father who was actually around to see her more than once a decade.
Sakura said to them, "Let's eat breakfast and then get ready for the day. Naruto texted me after we left Ichiraku and said we should all meet at the Third Training ground at noon. His family, Konohamaru, and Kakashi-sensei will be there. Lady Tsunade and Shizune are currently on vacation in the Land of the Crescent Moon".
Before Sarada could ask why, Shina said with a reminiscent smile on his face, "Ah the land of the Crescent moon, what a beautiful country. I was there once as a kid when my parents took my sister Hanami and I to the island the summer before I began training at the Academy".
Sakura asked Shina, "Did your parents also have a mission there to protect the then prince and his son when they were genin?"
Shina replied, "Yeah, my mom said it was the first A rank mission after beginning her tutelage under Lady Tsunade."
Sakura replied, "That was true for me in this timeline too." Sakura turned to her and said, "Now I'll get breakfast ready, you two can chat and get to know each other a bit before we head out". Sakura quickly turned back to Shina and said, "Oh Shina, I had the hospital send over your personal effects and your gear".
Shina said, "Thank you, it will be nice to have all my stuff. ".
Sarada replied, "Yes mom." Sarada turned to Shina next and asked, "So you said that there is a me in your timeline?"
Shina replied, " Yep, and in all honesty you are a lot like her. Especially physically, which is kind of weird to be honest. The only difference is that the Sarada in my timeline has red eyes, while you don't. If people saw you next to each they probably would assume you two were twins. Even your chakra signature is very similar to your counterpart in my timeline, with only minute differences being present. From what I have seen from your personality so far, you two are very alike there. Other than the fact that you use chakra enhanced strength, I can't really say how close you two are in fighting style though. Your counterpart is pretty terrifying when she is angry, but her primary fighting style isn't chakra enhanced taijutsu. I've haven't seen how your counterpart has finalized her fighting style though, but I did receive letters from everyone while training at Mount Myōboku. I do know that she has mastered the Uchiha clan's rite of passage jutsu, the Fire Style: Fireball jutsu. Sakura-san told me that you have the chunin exams coming up, if you want I can help you train for it? We'll need to spar first so I can see more of your fighting style and tactical mindset, but I don't mind the exercise".
She was unsure why he was willing to offer his help over Boruto, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She replied, "That sounds great, and maybe you can teach me the fireball jutsu as well. I know it's an Uchiha rite of passage, but I don't know when my dad will be back to teach me it".
She saw Shina tense up before he replied, "Um sure, I've been Ryu's teammate and friend for so long I know pretty much everything needed to teach the jutsu. It's just a little weird for me to encroach on this Uchiha right of passage. We can start training tomorrow, oh and by the way do you know anything about nature transformation and what is your affinity?"
She replied, "I have a lighting affinity, and I know several lighting style jutsu".
She saw a surprised look on his face as he said, "I'm honestly surprised given your age and what I know of Sasuke-san in this world. I thought, Sasuke-san wasn't around that much''.
Sarada replied, " My dad isn't around that much, I learned the nature transformation at the academy and copied most of my lightning style ninjutsu on a trip to the Hidden Mist with my sharingan ''.
Shina replied, "In my world they teach you what your affinity is in the academy and the academic basics, but actual elemental jutsu is considered out of Uzumakis who have the chakra reserves to use nature transformation at that age. If that is the case and you've awakened your sharingan, there might be one jutsu that you could learn that will give you an advantage in the chunin exams".
Sarada felt a wave of excitement overcome her at the prospect of learning the Uchiha clan's right of passage and a secret technique that is only viable with the sharingan she answered, "I'm looking forward to it".
Sakura walked over to them and said," Breakfast is ready. Let's eat and then we can get ready to head over to the training field".
Naruto's POV:
Naruto woke up before his family for once. Normally Naruto would still be deep asleep at this time due to exhaustion, but he was just excited that he couldn't sleep longer than necessary. He was dressed and preparing some tea and a quick breakfast for his family as they were waking up to the noise he created. Naruto thought to himself, "Maybe, I should ask Shina to spar with me especially since he never got a chance to spar with me after mastering Sage mode. It will also let me gauge his ability in case we couldn't find a way to get him home and he ended up living here". Before they could come down he made sure to call Konohamaru and Kakashi sensei to ensure that
Hinata and their children entered the kitchen. To which Naruto said, " Good Morning, dattebayo. I got some big news for today".
Himawari was the first to ask, "What is it daddy?
Naruto proceeded to explain to his family the events of the last few days being careful like Sakura-chan said about offending Hinata with how he talked about Shina. The joy was hard to hide in his voice, but he did his best. He saw that his daughter was excited over the prospect of having a new brother, Hinata tensed and Naruto could sense some unease but he wasn't sure what it was from exactly, and Boruto's face was as unreadable as ever. The only emotion he ever saw on Boruto's face since his becoming hokage was anger.
Himawari jumped up and down as she said, "Wow, I'm going to have another big brother!" She turned to her brother and said, "Boruto ni san are you happy that we're going to have a new big brother."
Boruto replied with huff, "He is not really our brother, he just some random guy whose dad happens to be some people who look like dad and Sakura".
Naruto sighed as he said, "Boruto, even if he doesn't come from this universe, he is still family. He is still the son of a version of me and he is still family. Now at noon we're going to the Third training field to meet with Sakura-chan, Sarada, Kakashi sensei, and Konohamaru".
Boruto grabbed a rice ball as he said, " Well I'm not going". Boruto proceeded to quickly exit the house and disappeared in a flicker.
Naruto let a sigh as he thought to himself, "I will never get that boy".
Breakfast was uneventful after that, Hinata was silent throughout the meal, but Himawari kept asking him more questions about her new elder brother. He was happy to tell her more about
Shina. At least one of his children was happy about the prospect of a new family member. After they finished their breakfast they gathered their things to meet everyone at the third training field.
Sarada's POV:
They had arrived at the third training field meeting up with Lord Seventh, his family, Lord Sixth, and Konohamaru Sensei. Lord Sixth and Konohamaru Sensei were surprised to learn who Shinachiku-san was and how he got to this world. Though they were happy to meet him, especially Konohamaru-sensei after Shinachiku-san said that Konohamru-sensei was his sensei as well. Himawari was excited to meet her "new big brother" in her words. Shinachiku-san was surprised when he met her, though Sarada didn't understand why. Perhaps because Shinachiku-san lacked the whiskers that Himawari, Boruto, and Naruto had. Shinachiku-san treated her kindly. Shinachiku-san greeted Lady Hinata with respect though, Sarada felt as if there was something off about their interaction.
Naruto said, "Shina, I know you said that you hadn't really got to train with me after you mastered Sage Mode. So if you don't mind, I would like to spar with you, dattebayo".
Shina replied with a smile, " That sounds fun, I could use the exercise to get these muscles nice and loose again".
Lord Seventh turned to everyone and said, "Get some distance as needed, I'll try to keep myself from going too crazy," he turned to Shinachiku-san and said, "I'll match my power to whatever level you take it too. Just try not to get too crazy Shina. We don't need to create Earth shattering craters".
Shina replied, "You got it".
They walked out towards the main clearing and made sure to stand about 20 meters from each other. Sarada activated her sharingan, Shinachiku promised to help her train so he might as well try to see how her new sensei fights.
Lord Seventh said, "Alright, let's begin".
Like lighting Shina summoned a shadow clone. The clone drew a shuriken from his holster and threw it. Then performed hand seals so fast that her Sharingan couldn't keep up.
Shina's clone yelled, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Then he performed the Tori seal, slammed his hand together and yelled, " Wind Style: Gale Palm!" While the original Shina threw a single oddly shaped kunai into the towards Lord Seventh but from the angle it looked like it wouldn't even be close to Lord Seventh.
Sarada thought to herself, "Excellent, using the wind style to increase the velocity of the shuriken thus increasing their ability to penetrate and damage. Though why did he just throw a single kunai into the air, I don't get it".
Lord Seventh quickly performed a series of earth style hand seals and yelled, " Earth style: Granite Wall!"
The gale enhanced shuriken slammed into the wall lodging themselves deep into the wall. The wind slicing the edges of the wall. Sarada turned her eyes back to Shina, but the original was gone. She quickly started scanning but then she heard the familiar sound of a shadow clone being summoned and she looked up. Shina and a clone were into the sky, pretty much right on top of the kunai which was directly over Lord Seventh.
Sarada heard Lord Sixth say in surprise, "Flying Raijin!?"
She wanted to ask what the Flying Raijin was, but she didn't want to miss anything and they were already moving too fast for her to fully track. Shina's feet connected with his clone and lept towards Lord Seventh, Sarada could see the chakra gathered in Shina's fist. Lord Seventh leapt out of the way. Shina's fist connected with the Earth. The ground shattered from the chakra enhanced strike.
Sarada heard Lord Sixth and Konohamaru-sensei say in almost a trembling voice, "He definitely is Sakura's son".
Then she heard Lady Hinata and Himawari activate their Byakugans. She figured they must be trying to keep up with the almost imperceivable speed that Shina and Lord Seventh were preparing to fight at.
Sarada saw a blur leap from the crater. The blur made contact with Lord Seventh and they engaged in a furious blur of taijutsu. Sarada's sharingan couldn't even keep up with the sheer number of blows that they were raining down on each other. Sarada saw the glare of the sun on a kunai flash, and she it slashing and then thrusting at lord Seventh. They continued the series of strikes, blocks, counters, evasions, and more strikes. Sarada saw the flash from the kunai as it spun into the air. A blur jumped up and kicked the kunai down at Lord Seventh. Lord Seventh easily dodged the kunai. The kunai embedded itself into the dirt. A blur and rings of smoke appeared above the kunai revealing Shina who launched a chakra enhanced kick from a crouched position. Lord Seventh blocked with crossed arms. The kick sent Lord Seventh flying. Though he spun and landed on his feet sliding across the dirt and water, and eventually to the far bank of the river.
Shina quickly summoned a shadow clone and then they performed some hands seals ending with the Tora seal, the original took a deep breath and released a barrage of fiery breaths saying, "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!" The second one ended his seals with clapped palms yelling, "Wind Style: Kamikaze Palm!" The blasts of wind and fire fused together greatly increased the heat and power of the blast.
Naruto responded by going into a partial transformation manifesting Kurama's head. The blast impacted the chakra head, scorching the surrounding area.
Lord Seventh said, "You've done good Shina. Even with the river passing through here, the wind enhanced flame would evaporate the water wall even if I combined it with my own chakra. Now, go ahead and dispel the shadow clone you had gathering nature energy. Now let's see how well you mastered Sage Mode".
Shina replied with a smile and with strange orange markings appearing around his eyes, "You got it".
Sarada was confused by Lord Seventh's statement, Shina only had the one clone next to him fighting alongside him. Shina held his left hand out, chakra started swirling and forming into the rasengan. It soon became larger than any rasengan Sarada had ever seen before. It's final size appeared to be about a meter in diameter.
Shina said, "Sage Art: Flying Raijin Giant Rasengan Blitz".
Then he was gone in flash and he reappeared in an instant within the Lord Seventh's chakra cloak. Shina slammed his rasengan into Naruto, who quickly countered.
Naruto said, "Six Paths: Super Mini Tailed Beast Bomb!"
The two jutsu clashed in the middle of the river and created a massive explosion. Before she could even react, Sarada felt an arm wrap itself around her and pulled her away as the blast wave impacted them. Sarada had never seen such power before. Trying to maintain her focus on the fight she thought to herself, "This must be what a Kage level battle is like".
When She finally came to a stop she realized that it was her mother who grabbed her and took her away from the worst of the shockwave. Lord Sixth had grabbed Himawari and Konohamaru-sensei and Lady Hinata had followed behind them in order to shield Himawari from the shockwave.
Sarada heard her mother say, "Dammit you two!. I thought you two were supposed to keep the power level suppressed".
Then they saw a blur move in the distance away from the explosion, hitting the ground and tumbling through the training field's forest. Creating a giant cloud of dust.
Lady Hinata said, "It's the boy, he was repelled by Naruto-kun's jutsu. He appears to be okay, he is getting up".
Sakura let out a sigh of relief, "Shina seemed to have inherited Naruto's almost inhuman durability and luck".
Lord Sixth said, "It's probably safer if we stay back, and rely on Hinata's Byakugan to keep tabs on the fight," as they took cover behind some fallen trees and piled up earth.
Sarada felt disappointed by that. She wanted to keep her eyes on the fight, but understood that it was getting too dangerous up close.
Hinata said, "The boy is up. He doesn't appear to be too beat up," she paused, "Naruto is preparing another mini Tailed Beast, he fired it".
Hinata continued, " The boy performed some seals and is holding his kunai in front of him. There is a lot of chakra built up in him and the kunai. He is holding in front of him. A barrier with a jutsu formula on it".
Lord Sixth said, "It is the Flying Raijin: Guiding Thunder jutsu. It was one of Minato-sensei's signature jutsu. It's a teleportation barrier. Minato-sensei was capable of teleporting even a Tailed Beast Bomb from Kurama".
Sarada mouthed dropped in awe, there were jutsu capable of fully defending against even the power of a Tailed Beast.
Hinata said, "The Tailed Beast Bomb hit the barrier, it's been absorbed".
Then another explosion rocked the training field. The shockwave hit them again clearing the debris that had previously been used as a barrier between them and the fighting.
Sarada looked up to see the crown of the explosion. Then she saw who was above it. It was Lord Seventh floating above the explosion.
Naruto yelled, "That was a great move Shina, you're almost as good as my dad. Now, Let's end this with a final move. Use your strongest Jutsu against me. I'll match it's strength exactly to cancel it out. I'll fly a bit higher to give everyone some more space!"
Lord Seventh flew higher into the sky, until he was out of Sarada's sight.
In the distance they saw Shina summon a shadow clone and they gathered a massive amount of chakra. They could hear the chakra spinning faster and faster creating a high pitch whining sound. Sarada could tell it was a rasengan but she had never seen a rasengan like this. It was even larger than the previous one and had a wind nature transformation. She wondered if this jutsu was related to the one Shina promised to teach her.
Sakura said, furious, "THAT'S THE WIND STYLE: RASENSHURIKEN! WHAT ARE THOSE IDIOTS DOING!?"
Sarada quickly put together that the jutsu must be incredibly powerful and quite possibly even a forbidden jutsu given her mother's reaction.
They heard a yell from Shina, "SAGE ART: RASENSHURIKEN!" Then Shina hurled it with as much force as he could.
Hinata said, "Naruto-kun's thrown his own rasenshuriken. It's chakra is equal to Shinachiku's".
The two rasenshuriken clashed created a blinding light and ear splitting sound that could be seen and heard for miles.
Lord Sixth quickly formed several hand seals and said, "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" The wall blocked the shockwave from the blast.
The dust settled and they stepped out from behind the wall. They leapt towards the main field. There they found Lord Seventh standing before an exhausted bent over Shina.
Naruto said, "Shina, you did a great job. I'm really proud of you. You mastered the rasengan, Sage Mode, adding the change in chakra to the rasengan, chakra enhanced strength, and the Flying Raijin. You even remind me of myself in how unpredictable you were, dattebayo. I wasn't expecting such flawless use of ninjutsu. Each jutsu synced perfectly with the next. With hardly any wasted moment. I was really impressed how you managed to place the marker and kick me with chakra enhanced strength jutsu at the sametime and follow it up with a powerful collaboration technique using fire and wind style, dattebayo.
Shina replied, "Thanks, dad and konohamaru-sensei made sure I knew how your and grandfather Minato's signature jutsu along with being able to work perfectly in a team. Naturally shadow clones help with that when you lack allies".
Sarada saw her mother run towards them, yelling, "Naruto! Shina!"
They turned to her, but before they could say anything she gave them a beating to their heads. With giant lumps forming on their heads.
Sakura said, "You idiots! What's the big idea throwing around Tailed Beast Bombs and Rasenshurikens! Your daughter is here, Naruto! What if she was caught in the debris?! Both of you idiots know the Rasenshurikens are forbidden jutsu. What part of that don't you understand?!"
Naruto replied, "Geez, Sakura that hurt. I made sure that blasts wouldn't be near you guys, especially the rasenshurikens. Pretty much from the moment my super mini tailed beast bomb hit his rasengan, I had a good idea of his abilities and where to next demonstrate them".
Sakura replied, still furious, "Then you should have taken this battle farther away or called it then if you knew then!"
Naruto said looking down, "I'm sorry, I know what it's like to want to prove yourself to your father. Long before I even knew who my dad was, I was always measured to the Fourth Hokage. Could I master the jutsu that the Fourth Hokage created, could I perfect and complete the jutsu that the Fourth couldn't, and could I become stronger than my own father and carry on the legacy he left me. I could see that within Shina's heart that he wanted to be recognized as someone worthy of carrying on the legacy of his father and be seen as a splendid shinobi".
Sakura replied with a sigh, "Alright, just give us a warning next time".
Naruto replied, "You got it Sakura-chan," he turned to Shina and said, "Shina you are truly a splendid shinobi and I know I'm not really your dad, but if my counterpart is anything like me, I know he would be so proud of you".
Shina said to Naruto with eyes glistening, "Thank you. It means a lot to me".