The battle took place, a new part of Konoha's history was written, heroes were born and the old generation finally gave way to the new ones.

The crackling stopped gradually, blood flowed abundantly from the chest of the victim, her arms let go of the arm that was slashing her as the assailant withdrew his arm abruptly leaving the body of her opponent on the ground.
She looked at the corpse, trying at last, she could only see a humanoid form. Her vision was blurry since her glasses had been broken. She limped forward, but finally fell to the ground. The brunette was in pain everywhere, but she had won her fight that was the main thing. The brunette could not feel her right leg anymore, it was covered with more or less deep cuts. She looked around as best she could, the neighborhood had been totally destroyed, even if it was vague she could see corpses of civilians and some ninjas. She tried to get up, but her exhaustion and her completely immobile right leg called her back.

Slow footsteps were heard, coming closer and closer to her. She turned her head towards the footsteps with difficulty and concentrated on distinguishing who this person could be. The person was carrying a rather large staff due to the shape of his weapon, his clothes were not typical of Konoha and there was a semblance of a mark on his left arm. Her eyes widened, this man was the one who was fighting the Nanadaime. If he was there, what had happened to the Hokage. Her limbs began to tremble, cold sweat poured down her spine, her throat tightened. She tried to get up, but quickly fell back to the ground, shaking with fear.

Only the footsteps of the shinobi echoed in the destroyed area of Konoha, sometimes shouts from other areas could be heard. The brunette started to crawl slowly, too slowly. Trying to avoid the inevitable, she looked up to see the position of the shinobi. He was behind her, staring at her in disdain. Stunned, she couldn't scream. The Nukenin grabbed the brunette's right ankle and sent her flying towards the rest of the wall. The Kunoichi's back hit the surface with a horrible scream of pain. Approaching her again, he lifted her by the neck and squeezed. Gasping for breath, she tried to pull his hand away from her neck. The brunette closed her eyes and with what little strength she had left kneaded what little chakra she had.

When his eyes opened again, a black sun with a red background was drawn in his eyes. Mangekyo. She looked into the eyes of the young man called Kawaki. The grip loosened slightly, Sarada had placed him in a genjustu. Finally it is what it believed until a smirk appeared on the lips of the brown. The grip tightened and with a sudden movement, he hit three times the head of the Uchiha against the wall behind her. The screams of pain resounded in the district.

He lets her slide against it. Her livid eyes were staring into the horizon, she no longer reacted, no longer felt the multiple kicks landing in her stomach. Lying on her side, a trickle of blood flowed from her mouth and a tear rolled down her cheek.

A certain death awaited her but she would have died for her village, she had fought like a lioness to protect the children in the hospital that her mother had created. Normally, they had all fled to the safe zones with the other patients of the hospital, the doctors and Shizune. She had saved people.

"We'll end this now, you're going to join your Kage as a pawn in this fake peace." pointing her weapon.

Sarada closed her eyes, her time had come. She was going to die like so many others in this battle. She waited for the fatal blow for long seconds before hearing the sound of a clash. She slowly opened her eyes. A blond head armed with a sword had come into storage and had obviously pushed Kawaki a little further away.

"Bo... Boruto." she said in a hoarse and broken voice.
"Don't worry Sarada, I'll take it from here." as she charged at the Nukenin.
"You!" cried Kawaki as she rushed towards the blond.
Unconsciousness overtook the Uchiha at that moment, lying against a wall, her body covered with bloody wounds and black bruises.

Her eyes fluttered, a blurred vision of a khaki tent roof made her realize that she was in a kind of temporary hospital made of a military tent. A sudden headache came over her when she felt a pressure on her hand, making her turn her head towards the person who was shaking her hand. She could only identify black hair. Probably her father. The person grabbed something from the bedside table and put it in Sarada. Blinking a few times to get used to the glasses on the tip of her nose, she smiled when she actually saw her father.

"You're finally waking up."

Her throat dry, her mouth pasty, she could only say in a small hoarse voice a simple "Yes". Sasuke helped her sit down and then went to get a glass of water. While her father was away, the brunette analyzed the damage to her body. She first tested the mobility of her limbs:
Left arm and hand: Ok.
Arm and right hand: Ok.
Left leg and foot: Ok.
Right leg and foot: Nothing.

No sign, only her thigh and her knee were responding slightly. She abruptly pulled the sheet from her lower body, revealing her leg, or at least what was left of it. Her severed leg leaving only her knee and thigh, whose scars more or less large covered much of what remained.
She didn't think that her fight against Kara's member had been so violent. She had won this fight. She had taken the life of this person whose affiliation she only knows. This nukenin was very powerful, but it had nothing to do with Kawaki, to whom she owed the numerous bruises, present especially on her belly and on her neck, and the bandage around her head.
Thinking about this scum reminded her that her Kage was potentially dead. While she was in her thoughts, the sound of the curtains that served as the door to her "hospital room" made her raise her head. Her father closed the curtains after coming back in, he gave the glass of water that Sarada drank in a few sips.

"Shizune had to amputate a good part of your leg, it was in too bad a shape according to her."
"Where is Sagaki?" with a voice that was still a little hoarse.
"He's being treated for the few wounds he had in a nearby room."
The girl nodded. Her father had a few bandages on his face, but nothing that looked very serious.
"Were there many deaths?"
"Yes, many shinobi died today, but most of the victims were civilians."

"Are there people I know who are dead?"
"Certainly..."
"Did... did the Nanadaime fall during that battle?"
"Naruto? He's alive, but he's in a serious condition. His wounds are having trouble healing even with Kyubi's chakra. The doctor ninjas are waiting for Tsunade's arrival so that they can heal him completely. One of them asked me to tell you that a prosthesis could be put on in the next few hours so that you can participate in Naruto's care."
"Let me rest for a few moments and I will go."

A week passed after this battle, Sarada was sitting on scaffolding where she could observe her village. It didn't take long for Konoha to start rebuilding the town with the help of the sand ninjas who came to help them after hearing the news. There was still a lot of destroyed building, debris, but the first foundations had already been built for some buildings. The eyes of the brunette were quickly lost on her prosthesis, one would have thought that it had not been amputated so much it was quite realistic. Even if it made a slight noise of metal when it touched the ground.

It took the Uchiha a few hours to get used to her new leg and then she went to her Hokage's room. In front of it there was only Himawari. No Boruto or Hinata. Sarada gave him a slight smile before entering the Nanadaime's room where four ninja doctors were trying to treat him. His whole body was covered with deep cuts, black bruises, his prosthetic arm was completely destroyed and he had several chakra cavities blocked at the level of his belly, preventing his Biju from providing him with the necessary chakra to regenerate by himself. The doctors could not call upon the Hyuga to unblock the cavities, the shock would be too violent for the body of the patient, so they had to unblock them with their own chakra.

The chakra cavities had been blocked with too much chakra for simple ninja doctors, only Shizune had managed to unlock one of them, but she had very little chakra left after that. Possessing Tsunade's seal, Sarada had huge chakra resources and she was going to use them to try to save her Kage, while waiting for the Godaime.

She had started by taking care of the easiest ones (cuts, bruises, etc...) then she concentrated on the blocked cavities. She counted eight of them around the seal of Kyûbi. So, she started to unblock the cavities. After a few hours of work without a break, the brunette had succeeded in unblocking three cavities, the sweat was flowing on her forehead while she was slowly attacking the fourth cavity.

Putting a finger on a cavity, she concentrated her chakra in it, like the last three times, a shiver ran down her spine as she recognized Kawaki's chakra. His chakra was gradually mixing with the Nukenin's chakra to take possession of it and free the cavity. A big quantity of his chakra passed there. She fell on her knees, sweat was flowing more from her forehead. A doctor picked her up and brought her back to her room, whispering to her that she had already done enough.

After a day of resting in her hospital bed, she was told that Nanadaime was already better, but still unconscious. Tsunade had arrived the same morning and had freed the last four cavities. She was also informed that a list of the victims of this battle had been made and posted outside the tents. In the afternoon, she went there, there were few people around the posted list. The gloomy faces of the people present made her slow down, she saw a green shadow jostling her as she ran towards the tents, tears running profusely down her cheeks. It was Metal Lee, Sarada's stomach tightened. She had a bad feeling which began to invade her. Her hands began to shake as she started to read the names of the victims.

Her eyes already stopped when she saw the name Akimichi twice, her thoughts went directly to Chocho as she quickly read the names of the two Akimichi: Choza and Karui. A feeling of relief seized her before disappearing while realizing that her best friend had just lost her grandfather and her mother. The brunette had already lived this and she would help her best friend to overcome this ordeal too. Her eyes started to go down the list again. Her gaze stopped for a second on the name of a friend of her mother or rather an acquaintance but the brunette knew him more for his work at the Konoha police: Inuzuka Kiba. She continued her research and her eyes widened when she saw the name of one of her friends and classmate of the academy: Suzumeno Namida. the brunette thought immediately to Wasabi and Sumire, especially to Wasabi, Namida was her best friend.

As she looked down at the next person, her eyes widened and tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. The brunette reread the name many times as she couldn't believe it, each letter replayed in her mind.
It sounds just like Tenten. Tenten. Tenten. Dead. Not there anymore. She too. Metal. She understood him. He was losing a kind of mother. She was losing a role model. The Uchiha had done some training with the weapons specialist and Rock Lee's son during the last year, their complicity was obvious.

Raising her eyes to the sky, Tenten had gone to join her mother and the man she loved, tears rolled down her cheeks, but she quickly wiped them away. With difficulty, she continued to look at the names of the victims, arriving at the letter Y, names that she knew were present: Yamanaka, Yûhi, Yuino.

Yamanaka Sai, Yûhi Kurenai, Yuino Iwabe.
A friend of her mother and the father of one of her friends, one of the best Kunoichi of her time and mother of one of the most powerful jonin of her last years and a classmate of the academy. She understood even better the reaction of Metal now, Tenten and Iwabe. She reread the form several times, passing her eyes over the name of the weapons specialist several times, letting a few tears escape her eyes, then calmly turned on her heels and went back inside the tents.

Then she went to see how her friends were doing. She had found her best friend first, Chocho had cried for a long time in her arms, the brunette whispered comforting words to her under the tearful eyes of Chôji. The Akimichi was a big-hearted family so losing even two members, including the former leader of the clan, saddened them a lot. After a few minutes, the Akimichi dried her tears and took Sarada to see Inojin with her. Surprisingly, Chocho had recovered quickly, confiding to her on the way that after seeing the state of the Uchiha after the loss of her mother, she had promised herself that if loved ones of theirs died, she would live for them and not seek to mourn her fate.

Inojin was in his mother's hospital room, Chocho had told him that Ino had been found unconscious, her face disfigured by a justu of fire and with many fracture. The Akimichi had also confided to her that the doctors had not yet taken care of her, too busy with the Naruto case and more urgent cases. As they entered, they saw Himawari on Inojin's lap comforting him, the blond was crying and even though they couldn't see the tears flowing, his face was buried in the Uzumaki's neck, one could hear his moans of pain.

Taking a quick look at the two, the brunette approached the unconscious body of the person she could consider her aunt. The Uchiha gently took her hand and squeezed it for a few moments, then raised her two hands above the body of the Yamanaka. She quickly spotted the fractures:
Two broken ribs, the bones of her left forearm crushed and a slight crack in her skull probably why she was unconscious. Very easy wounds to heal for a ninja doctor. For the burns that disfigured her face, the damage was too great, she would need a skin graft to get her face "back" to the way it was before or simply live with it.

A green glow came out of her hands and in a few minutes she healed Ino's few broken bones. She came closer to Inojin and Himawari and sat on the chair next to them, explaining the situation to the blond who simply thanked her. She got up with Himawari, who left his place for a few hours to Chocho, and went in the "corridors" of the tents. During their conversation, Sarada asked the Nanadaime's daughter if she had seen Boruto, but she answered that she had not seen him for a few hours already.

Arriving in front of a curtain, the Byakugan holder warned her that she had to leave her because her mother was also among the injured. Indeed, Hinata had lost an eye during the battle and had several fractures. She was surrounded by her sister, Hanabi and her father, Hiashi. The young Uzumaki opened the curtain and made a sign to the brunette who gave it back to her and went back to look for her friends.

At the bend of a "corridor", she crossed the leader of the Nara clan, a scar barring his face and he must have had a dislocated shoulder because it was held by a sheet, a scowl and a cigarette in his mouth. He passed by her without a glance. She continued her walk and this time came across Shikadai cradling a visibly sleeping Mirai, her cheeks still strewn with tears, sitting on one of the many chairs put in the aisles. The Nara wiped away the Sarutobi's tears with her thumb and turned her gaze to Sarada. The brunette was not especially close to the two, but the idea of going to talk to the red-eyed girl had crossed her mind when she had the name of her mother on the card. She turned on her heels after having intercepted the look of the brunette who clearly wanted to say that he wanted to stay alone with the sleeping Kunoichi, she still waved to him before leaving, promising herself to go and see Mirai later.

For the rest of the day, she had wandered around the different tents, treating a few people along the way. The brunette had a long conversation with her brother. It was crazy how she could see his green eyes, calm his dark thoughts and make him feel nostalgic. The brunette went back on the road after having given him a kiss on the forehead. She hadn't met many people except for Mitsuki who was in perfect condition and who had informed her that he was working on the excavation of the debris and the future reconstruction of the village.
The week went by without any major changes, Ino had woken up and after hearing the news about her husband had decided to keep the burn. Sarada had a conversation with Mirai, a very long conversation where she talked about everything and nothing but that did them good after the last few days, Chocho had even joined them some time later. The Uchiha had been able to learn more about his master's cousin.
If she was honest, Sarada admitted that the subject that bothered her the most was that she hadn't seen Boruto once since she had woken up a week ago. She knew he was alive and frankly that was the main thing.

Still in her thoughts, she did not hear the footsteps behind her. The person sat down next to her, bringing the Uchiha out of her thoughts. She didn't have to turn her face towards this person, just his aura was recognizable, a smile came over her face.

"Where were you?"
"At Kara's headquarters."
"You destroyed it completely?"
He simply nodded. A few minutes passed where they watched the sun slowly start to set.
"Do you know about this?" Asked the Uzumaki.
"Know about what?"
"My father just woke up."
"Really?" Finally turning to him, a slightly bigger smile on her lips.
"Mmh. My mom and sister are still at his bedside. He admits to me that he was probably going to leave his place to Konohamaru."

A new silence was made once again. After a good while without speaking, Sarada gently laid her head on the shoulder of the blond who intertwined her fingers with the brunette's, who did the same.
"Maybe you should go back..."
"No, I'll have plenty of time to give her a full report tomorrow. I want to stay with you..."
"Thank you for saving me." Sarada murmured
"I just kept my promise Sarada, I'll look after you."
Turning her head a little towards Boruto, he leaned towards her. Slowly their eyes locked, stopping as their lips brushed against each other, looking at each other with half closed eyes. It is the brunette who finally put her lips on that of the Uzumaki. This light kiss lasted only a moment, their cheeks were tinged with redness.
"I missed you, Boruto."
"I missed you too, Sarada."
Repositioning his head on the blond's shoulder, they both looked at the sunset that was unfolding before them, their hearts beating a thousand miles an hour.

Several years later:
Her footsteps echoed in the streets, the few early risers present said good morning to her. A beautiful smile adorned her face, holding bouquets of flowers in her arms that she had taken from Ino. Arriving in front of the desired place, she stopped and adjusted her glasses. A cloak decorated with light red flame and bearing the Kyudaime Hokage engravings was placed on her shoulders. The hat of the Hokage was in her hand which did not carry the flowers. And yes, she had realized her dream: Become a Hokage.

The brunette took advantage of the few free hours she had this morning to go to the Konoha cemetery. Starting to walk again, she crossed the alleys and stopped once again in front of two graves. Sarada knelt down and placed a bouquet on each of the graves, she looked at the names engraved on the stones: Suzumeno Namida and Yuino Iwabe. Hard losses for her generation.

The brunette had seen many times, Wasabi was crying her eyes out in front of Suzumeno's grave. The girl with the appearance of a cat could spend her day in front of this grave. Over the months, she had made her mourning supported by Sumire and Hanabi, always present for her students. During a day with Chocho and Sumire, she had learned, from the mouth of the violet, that Wasabi loved Namida but not with a simple brotherly love, a pure, sincere love shared with the crybaby. They had kept their secrets for fear of being judged by their comrades revealing this information only to the violet and the Hyûga. This news had not shocked them, but they understood better that the girl was more touched by his death than their master and Sumire. Now Wasabi was working in the Konoha police force and was enjoying herself and came to see Namida's grave whenever she had time.

For Iwabe the mourning was faster. Denki was very saddened by the loss of the one he considered his best friend. Udon, on the other hand, felt guilty about the death of his student, but had managed to forgive himself thanks to Moegi and Konohamaru. The weight on Metal's heart had increased after seeing the name of his classmate but he had quickly forgotten about the death of his classmate because he was too caught up in the death of the one he considered to be his mother.

Speaking of her, Sarada stood up and walked for a few seconds between the graves to come upon hers. Tenten. Grief had been complicated for her as well as Metal. Even more so for Metal. She remembered finding the young man in front of the grave, crying, screaming to anyone who would listen that she was not gone, that she was here, somewhere, that she could not leave him and his father, not now. Just by hearing her cries of despair, tears had flowed down her cheeks profusely and she had gone to him, trying to calm him, to comfort him, taking him in her arms where he cried for several minutes in a row. After that, the brunette had supported her during her long mourning with the boy's father. As the months went by, he replaced the crying with hard training with his father. Metal always finished his training by going to see Tenten's grave often accompanied by Rock Lee. The Uchiha gently placed the bouquet of flowers on the grave and stood in front of the tombstone for a few more moments.
She went back to the one she was most interested in, and when she got to it she stood there for many seconds without doing anything. The grave was decorated with a few flowers and a branch of cherry tree coming probably from her father who gave a new one as soon as the old one faded.

"Hello Mama, I'm sorry I haven't been around the last few weeks, I've been too busy, but daddy must have told you why. I didn't think the Hokage job was that time-consuming but I really like it. I don't think Sagaki and dad told you much about them and the fact that I became Hokage so I'll give you a little summary. I became Hokage two months ago. Boruto and Mitsuki help me a lot. Master Konohamaru was a very good Hokage, he managed to manage the reconstruction of Konoha and the following crises without any problem, even if he was elected in a difficult context. Speaking of him, you should know that he is doing well and enjoying a peaceful retirement with his wife. The Nanadaime had a hard time recovering from the consequences of her fight against Kawaki, but that didn't stop her from living. Last month, Himawari and Inojin got married, a discreet marriage. They now live in a house built in the Yamanaka clan's compound and don't worry Ino is doing very well. She still runs her flower store and when she can the children's hospital. Speaking of them, most of the children you care for become shinobi and some have even learned the basics of ninja medicine.

As you must know, dad is fine, Sagaki is fine too. He became Chûnin a few months ago. He was very proud maybe a little too much. He really looks more and more like dad even though he is your eyes. He supports me a lot. Actually, I don't know what to say about dad... Oh yes, for the past few months he's been helping the Konoha police with some investigations. I miss you more and more every day Mama, but now I live for you, Sagaki lives for you and daddy lives for you. Please protect us from above, watch over us. Mama, I would make you proud of me so watch over me."

She reached for her hat and turned to leave the cemetery. Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, a head rested gently on her shoulder and a breath reached her ear. Her eyes widened as she heard the person's voice.
"Sarada, I am already proud of you."
The brunette turned around at full speed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She saw only cherry blossoms fluttering in the wind, followed the path of the flowers, she whispered:
"Mama..."

THE END