Sarada could feel tears build up in her eyes and hear her heart pounding after what she just witnessed. Everything was going so well, and she would be moral support when Kenji passed his unique exam to graduate the academy. She never in a million years thought she would be staring at Kenji choking on his own blood. Her stomach churned and she held back the urge to throw up her snack she ate before meeting with Fu.

She had to leave now because she knew if Mizuki found her, she would be laying for dead as Kenji was. She began to take a step back before stepping on a twig. She mentally cursed herself and became as still as the air in hopes that Mizuki would shrug it off. Her hopes were immediately crushed when Mizuki appeared right in front of her with the Scroll of Sealing on his back with a deceiving smile on his face.

"What are you doing here Sarada? It's late out" Mizuki said in his charming voice that would have calmed Sarada if she didn't just witness the murder of Kenji

Sarada was shocked that he could even keep composure about what he just did, "What did you do?" she asked.

"I really wish you didn't see that; I would have just sent you on your way home" Mizuki said sighing

Sarada did not say a word and Mizuki picked up on her hesitation. Suddenly she noticed his eyes harden and tensed up.

"It's a shame really, I had high hopes for you in the academy and I was sure you'd blossom into a beautiful kunoichi" Mizuki said in a more sinister tone while beginning to walk towards her.

"Stay back" Sarada spit out in a very hushed yet forceful tone. She tried to appear strong, but she was afraid and could not stop shaking.

"Please don't try to resist, I'll make sure it's painless" Mizuki replied calmly.

Sarada immediately began to run in the opposite direction but was cut off by Mizuki who thrusted his knee right to her stomach with great force. She hunched over gasping for air as the pain washed around her midsection. Mizuki grabbed her hair and yanked as hard as he could and slammed her to the floor

"Now why would you go and do that?" Mizuki said irritated that she tried to run "I would have just broken your neck and you wouldn't have felt a thing but now you've just made this 100 times worse for yourself now"

Sarada felt helpless and paralyzed in fear and began to panic until she felt something wet under her. She realized that it was blood but not her own and looked on the side of her to see a pale and immobile Kenji laying right beside her. Tears started to build up in her eyes again but for her classmate that laid beside her. They did not see eye to eye when he first moved to the village but in the six months, they've attended the academy together she could say that she came to accept him as a peer along with Fu. He did not deserve what happened to him and thinking about it just seem to enrage her. Sarada felt a surge of adrenaline course through her body and the more she stared at Kenji's lifeless body the more her vision blurred and the angrier she got. She stumbled up to her feet still feeling the pain from his knee and took a fighting stance.

She accepted her fate that she was going to die tonight but for some reason she wasn't afraid anymore. She only knew that she had to get even for Kenji before she died.

"You're going to die for that" Sarada growled with hatred showing in her eyes.

Mizuki howled in laughter and Sarada could not help but shiver in anger and disgust knowing how ecstatic he appeared to be after what was he had done. Mizuki stopped laughing and focused in on Sarada for the first time and immediately tensed up. Sarada's eyes were different and for the first time he noticed her eyes were now red and each had one tomoe.

Sarada had awakened her Sharingan but it had not been noticed yet by Sarada. 'No fucking way' Mizuki thought as he realized he never would see a sharingan in person since all of the Uchiha were dead except for the two brats and at their current experience level, they'd be dead or quit being ninja before they ever unlocked the eyes.

"You're going to try and fight me? Well go ahead and give it a shot. I'll play with you for a little bit"

Sarada immediately reached for the kunai and threw it at Mizuki as he dashed straight towards her. She knew he had the advantage in speed and raw power, but she was an Uchiha, and she was a prodigy. At the very least she felt she could at least find a way to at least scar him. If she was going to die, then she would die fighting.

Mizuki ducked the kunai and returned a flurry of shuriken of his own in response. Sarada noticed her perception of time slowing around her and leaped over the shuriken and extended her legs in order to deliver a kick towards Mizuki. Mizuki caught her kick and delivered his own kick which sent her flying back. Using the momentum, Sarada flipped and weaved through several hand signs. Suddenly 6 projections of Sarada appeared where she landed and Mizuki was staring at a total of 7 Sarada Uchiha's standing opposite of him.

"Really, you're going to use the clone jutsu on me? I feel like you aren't taking this seriously, so I need to ramp it up!" Mizuki yelled in excitement.

Mizuki knew which one was the real Sarada based on the subtle cues that gave off the afterimages but he was having much too fun terrorizing this girl so he decided he would cut through all the projections first before finally giving her a fatal blow. Mizuki in quick succession ran to the first two clone projections and gave a swift slash with his kunai to their necks which dispatched both clones and laid a cloud of smoke. He then turned and dashed towards the other clones

Sarada knew that Mizuki would be able to see through the clones since it was, he who taught her how to use the clone jutsu. She also knew that Mizuki's ego would not allow him to just kill his prey without playing with his food first, so she had a secret ace up her sleeve.

Two of the Sarada clones ran towards Mizuki but soon fell to the same fate as the other two clones and disappeared but unlike the other two clones, the smoke that emerged was much thicker. Mizuki chuckled as he realized that the real Sarada threw smoke bombs to attempt to cloud his vision, but he knew exactly where she was, and he was going to end the fight now that he was bored.

He ran towards the real Sarada and stabbed her as hard as he could with his kunai. To his shock, Sarada transformed into a wooden log containing multiple paper tag bombs which detonated. Mizuki was fast enough to leap away. He scanned his area to see where Sarada was, and he saw that she was in the air weaving through hand signs again. He smirked knowing that whatever she did could be avoided once he touched the ground. He landed in a dark puddle and was shocked that wires wrapped around him binding him in place. He looked down and realized that the puddle was not in fact water but oil. He began to panic as he looked up back at Sarada as she finished her hand signs.

"FIRE STYLE: FIREBALL JUTSU" Sarada roared as she used as much chakra as she could to release a burst of scorching fire straight at Mizuki.

Kenji could feel himself floating but his eyes were closed and no matter how hard he tried, he could not get up. He did not know how he got there but he didn't feel like it mattered and more importantly he felt at peace. He could feel someone's presence next to him, but he had no idea who or what it was. Suddenly something slides up his chest which startled him. He began to move but a delicate angelic voice spoke to him

"Stay calm, it's alright. Everything will be fine. Just focus on what you are feeling"

Kenji immediately exhaled, and he was amazed at how soothing the voice was but there was something nagging in his soul to open his eyes. Not wanting to fight his instincts, he used all his might to open his eyes. Kenji's heart drop and fear immediately picked up as what he saw was multiple tentacles wrapped around his body and near his face was what could only be described as a pale monster woman who screeched and lunged at his face with sharp teeth.

The combination of the oil and the fire made a huge eruption of flame that put a smile on Sarada's face. She knew it had to be a direct hit and she was glad because she expended most of her chakra into the attack. She noticed her body was heavy and a lot of her chakra was expended much quicker than usual, but she couldn't dwell on it.

She looked at where the flame was and could see what looked like the scroll burning. She gave a little smirk until she felt major killing intent. Her smirk turned into a scowl when Mizuki appeared from the fire. He no longer had the scroll on him, and his flak jacket was removed.

"You little bitch, you destroyed the scroll. I'm going to kill you in the most painful way possible" Mizuki snarled in anger before lunging full speed towards Sarada.

Sarada could process him coming towards him but there was no way she could react fast enough so she could only await her impending doom. She expected Mizuki to give her a kill blow but was surprised when he immediately stopped and jumped away from her. Her focus was suddenly shifted to the figure who was standing across from her.

She could not believe her eyes, standing right in front of her was Kenji but something was different about him. She could see faint traces of chakra around him, but the chakra was darker in tone and unlike normal chakra it seems to flow around his body more violently. His once brown eyes displayed an eerie red and his cheery demeanor was replaced with a blank look of unrecognition.

Mizuki also was in heavy shock seeing Kenji standing before him not only because he no doubt gave a killing blow to him but the killing intent that he felt was something he had not felt from Jonin level ninja. There was something different about Kenji that he could feel but he could not place it.

"So, you've come back for more" Mizuki remarked shaking off his surprise in seeing Kenji and flashing his arrogant smile again.

His smile faded when there seemed to be no reaction which made him nervous. Something was wrong and that feeling of fear was only enforced when Kenji gave a primal roar which seemed to shake the entire forest with a vast amount of pressure. Mizuki instinctively put himself in a defensive stance and waited for the brat to make his move.

Kenji rushed towards Mizuki at high speed and delivered a near bone shattering kick to the chest of Mizuki. Mizuki grunted in pain before flipping and landing on his two feet. He barely had any time adjust himself before he had to leap back to avoid a downwards punch with ended up cracking the ground where Muzuki landed.

'He's completely different from before, I have to end this quick' Mizuki thought while pulling out a tanto blade.

Kenji gave another guttural roar before speeding towards the traitorous chunin. He extended his arm back to deliver a punch at an alarming speed, but Mizuki ducked the punch and sliced the tanto across his chest which left a deep cut on the chest of Kenji. Kenji threw his elbow in retaliation but Mizuki again ducked and sliced Kenji from behind leaving another deep cut which oozed blood. Mizuki tried to follow up with another slice towards his face which Kenji ducked. It left Kenji right open for a kick which pushed him a couple of feet back.

Mizuki intended to go on the offense but audibly gasped in shock after seeing the cut on Kenji's chest closing before vanishing as if he never got hit.

'What the fuck? He's healing from all of my damage' Mizuki thought in frustration

Sarada watched the battle from a distance, and she couldn't tell who was winning. Kenji appeared to be faster and stronger than Mizuki currently however his movements and attacks were that of a wild animal thrashing out. There was no thought or planning with his attacks, but he was withstanding all of Mizuki's attacks and appeared to heal from all of them to the point where the only indication he was touched was his clothes being ripped from the blade.

She was contemplating aiding Kenji, but she felt like she would be in the way, and it didn't look like Kenji was in the right mind.

Her thoughts were pushed to the side when she observed chakra emanating from his body. She was amazed and terrified because the chakra was visible and dense to the point, she could feel the sinister presence. It felt unlike anything that she ever felt from anyone including her psychopath chunin instructor who tried to kill her.

Kenji snarled before continuing his onslaught of punches and kicks trying to hit the chunin again. Mizuki tried his best to keep up however Kenji only seemed to be getting faster with his blows.

Mizuki decided to take a risk and take one of the punches which hurt him immensely however he was able to pierce the tanto blade right into the chest of Kenji. He expected it to slow him down and was surprised by the jumping knee that impacted his chin and sent him flying in the opposite direction.

He slammed to the ground and rolled to a stop before picking himself up to see whether the child was dead. Mizuki watched as the chakra enhanced child pulled the tanto blade out of his chest. Blood seeped out of the wound before slowly steaming and drying up. The wound proceeded to close and like the other cuts vanished from his body. The boy then held both of his hands down in a cupped motion.

Mizuki wondered what the boy was doing until he saw little orbs of black and blue particles slowly forming in his hand and he froze. If it were the technique, he thought it was, it would be doom for the entire village.

'He's going to destroy the whole forest with an attack like that' Mizuki thought

Before Mizuki or Sarada could react, branches of wood grew out through the field and wrapped the chakra powered boy. The boy shrieked which caused another surge of wind and required the two-ninja present to brace themselves. Suddenly pillars of wood formed in a circle around the boy who struggled to remove the wood that surrounded him.

Suddenly the chakra seemed to drain from the boy into the pillars which robbed the boy of his consciousness as his legs buckled and he fell limp to the floor still with wood wrapped around him.

Sarada was still processing the events when a squad of ANBU members appeared in the field, two of which proceeded to slam her to the ground with excessive force. She began to struggle but suddenly went limp when she felt a knee pinning her back down and cold steel pressed against her neck. She instantly recognized it as a Kunai and immediately stopped resisting.

"Do not resist" The ANBU member said in a harsh cold tone signifying that he would not hesitate to nick her artery.

Mizuki seeing all of this turned to make his exit but was suddenly blocked off by three of the ANBU members and the Third Hokage who presence shocked both Sarada and Mizuki.

"What is the meaning of this Mizuki?" Hiruzen said strictly, His eyes quickly darting between the formerly chakra powered boy who was currently wrapped in wood, the Uchiha girl who was currently being detained by ANBU and the chunin he faced.

Mizuki did not say anything and only gave a mixed look of fear and bewilderment. Hiruzen frowned because of the current position he was in. He knew Mizuki had to be the mastermind of this plan and that everyone involved would have to be taken in for interrogation in The Leaf Villages Torture and Interrogation department.

He had only been able to figure out what had occurred because of Karin who had told him all about the plot and the people involved. He only was able to pinpoint where they were because of the massive chakra spike which ruffled the entire forest. He gave another glance to the Uchiha girl who he was initially surprised to see. Karin had not mentioned Sarada Uchiha being a part of this act of treason, so he wondered about her role in this. He was enraged that Mizuki would bring children into his ploy and even more so that the coward had nothing to say for himself.

He was about to officially place Mizuki under arrest but Mizuki unzipped his chunin flak jacket revealing that the inner part of the jacket was covered with explosive tags.

"I WON'T BE TAKEN ALIVE" Mizuki screeched

Hiruzen mentally cursed while weaving through handsigns at a blinding speed.

"Earth Style: Iron Madien" The Third Hokage yelled completing his handsigns.

Mizuki formed the tiger seal to detonate the tags however before the tags exploded an iron casket shaped in the figure of a person closed around his body completely. A sudden boom was heard indicating that the explosion had occurred however the iron maiden withstood the explosion protecting all the people and the field.

Hiruzen gave a look of sadness feeling minor pity for the chunin but his look hardened and he turned to look at the two academy students.

A/N: I first want to apologize to everyone who has been following the story for my extended absence. I have been dealing with a lot and the pandemic didn't make things any better for me. I finally feel in a better headspace to continue the story at my pace. Hopefully you guys enjoy the ride. I'll try to update a little bit more often