MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE – THE UNSTOPPABLE EYES
The Battlefield
"Mom…" Sarada stutters as she looks to her side.
The arrival of Sakura at now of all times shocks her daughter. It must be understood that Sakura is no longer a warrior. Sakura of course, still has masterful control of her chakra granting her superhuman strength, should she get into a fight she would still hold her own, yet, this is no ordinary fight, everyone here is a shinobi with the power to write their own name into history.
Sakura does not arrive on the battlefield alone, standing just behind her is her own master, many years younger than her pupil. Tsunade has accompanied Sakura as a means of protection rather than coming with the intention to fight though. One of the three legendary shinobi of the leaf, Tsunade went on to become the 5th Hokage whose strength was feared by many foes. Her prospective foe in this battle has no fear of her.
Sasuke stands opposite from Sakura and Tsunade, his rinnegan glowing with a purple brilliance, his face unchanging despite the arrival of his wife. The only thing in Sasuke's mind the threat level of the newcomers. Sakura is an old woman with above average strength but you would need a thousand of her to rival Sasuke. As for Tsunade, she is a Hokage, there is only one Hokage who Sasuke truly respects on the field of battle, his strongest foe and greatest ally, his eternal rival, his best friend, Uzumaki Naruto.
"Sasuke" Sakura breathes out as she slowly approaches her husband, "Why are you doing this?".
To Sakura's surprise the man before her doesn't reply. He simply stands watching her as he has with everyone else before her. Though as Sakura continues to walk towards Sasuke, Sarada becomes the only person to notice a difference.
'He's not attacking' Sarada notices, 'With us even if he paused it was to assess our openings, he is showing no killing intent towards mother'.
"You know" Sakura smiles as she continues her approach, "I remember when we were kids and I used to fawn over you. It's kind of embarrassing now that I think back on it but… I really did love you".
"And now look how far we have come. I never would have believed it when I first met you but we went on to live together happily. We got married, we had a daughter, we took the abuse everyone threw at us and we conquered it".
"You're… You're my husband, you're Sarada's father, you're a member of the hidden leaf who vowed to protect the village, just like your brother wanted".
"That technique that made you hesitate earlier" comes the voice of the 9th Hokage, "It was the technique my uncle used, the one you always used to tell me about".
"Please Sasuke, I'm begging you to stop this".
Tsunade looks on in astonishment. She understood when Sasuke turned up that this would be an emotional experience for Sakura, however, it is not until this moment that she truly appreciates how strong the bond of this generation is. This is a generation that went through a war together, that battled against the Akatsuki together, that stopped Kaguya together. After all he went through, Sasuke came back to the village, a victim of the world he was born into and so many people hated him. Together Sakura and Sasuke ignored their hatred, they persevered against all the odds. They turned the hatred of the Uchiha clan around, they transformed it into a love that allowed Sarada to grow up happily. Together despite what everyone else thought they changed the destiny of the cursed clan.
Mitsuki also contemplates just how much the couple before him must have gone through, his teammates parents, the man who changed his father. While Sasuke did many vile and horrible things, he brought death and destruction to so many with the forgiveness of just his team, the love of his wife, he took those good things and brought the world that he once plunged into darkness, back into the light.
"My father saw something in you Sasuke" he explains, thinking back to his childhood, "He saw something worth protecting, worth coming back to the village for".
"If it weren't for you I wouldn't be here today. The village wouldn't have survived. Please, don't turn your back on the village you love. Because…".
"That village loves you too".
Sakura finally reaches her husband, reaches Uchiha Sasuke and slowly wraps her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
"I love you Sasuke" she smiles.
The whole world seems to stand still for a moment.
Then something terrifying happens.
A disaster heralded by the ringing of steel.
As Sakura's clothes begin to change from a light shade of brown to a deep shade of red it becomes evident that blood is flowing from a wound.
Sasuke has stabbed her.
"MOM" Sarada screams as runs towards the falling Sakura.
Tsunade ignores her falling disciple and immediately runs towards Sasuke, intending to use the moments opening to her advantage.
Sasuke is no fool though, perhaps having the most combat experience of any shinobi ever, the 'shadow Hokage' pulls his sword from his wife's gut before kicking the pink haired shinobi into her master.
The second Sakura is out of the way Boruto exerts himself to the utmost, throwing a constant stream of kunai towards his master, a barrage of rasengan smacking against the quickly formed ribcage of a Susano. If Boruto was to think rationally, he might notice that Sasuke's Susano is beginning to reform, a terrible sign.
"Mitsuki, haven't you got any more historical summons" Boruto asks hopefully.
"I have more summons but they are all weaker than we are" Mitsuki shouts in response.
"Get the others to safety, I will fight him" Boruto declares. He is the child of Naruto, the disciple of Sasuke, the last hope in this desperate situation.
"You will die" Mitsuki replies bluntly.
"JUST RUN" Boruto shouts even louder at Mitsuki, his voice beginning to crack as his endless pleas for his friends to escape fall on death ears.
It's as Sasuke ignores their arguments and begins to throw the duo around like skipping stones that they come to appreciate they could never win. If the stars aligned and all the right things happened at the right times, if Sasuke gave all three of them an opening to use their most powerful attacks, he would take them and be fine. Uchiha Sasuke is a man with so much talent who has earned so much power that he no longer needs to use his skills.
This power he has is something that could not be acquired, something linked to his destiny, to his birth.
This power is the unstoppable eyes.
Sarada, runs over to Sakura's new position, Sasuke having kicked her and Tsunade while his wife was injured.
"Mom…" Sarada begins, tears starting to form in her eyes, "What is happening… you're going to be fine aren't you".
Sakura smiles gently towards her daughter. This woman before her is the 9th Hokage, her daughter with Sasuke. A symbol that together they had worked to change the perception of the Uchiha clan and that it had work. This woman before her is Hokage because of the unity shared by herself and Sasuke, because of the ninja way coined by Naruto being adopted by them both and so many more who followed.
"I don't think so Sarada…".
"I can't really feel anything right now but I stabbed in the torso, wasn't I?".
Sarada shakes her head rapidly, believing that if she shakes faster then perhaps the truth will become a falsehood and falsehoods will become the truth.
"No… No…".
"Sarada, I think it's over for me".
Sakura doesn't say these words with the intention of upsetting Sarada, instead that is her honest assessment of her condition. For years Sakura trained not as any shinobi but as a medical shinobi, an apprentice to the legendary healer Senju Tsunade, grand-daughter to Senju Hashirama, the most famous healer of all.
Sakura is the medic from the fabled team 7, consisting of herself, the 6th Hokage, the 7th Hokage and the 'shadow Hokage'. Her battle experience, while not on par with her husbands, remains extensive. A woman who has battled Otsutsuki Kaguya, the most dangerous villain this world had ever seen before the invasion.
"Don't say that" Sarada shakes her mother as she scolds her lightly, "Dad would never kill you"
Sakura shakes her head gently, not wanting that to be Sarada's memory of this moment. "Your father didn't kill me… it was whoever made him do this to me".
In that moment things become clear to Sarada, nobody from the ninja world can do such a thing to Sasuke, it must be the invaders. They have arrived in this world, destroyed the villages of her friends, 'killed' her father and her inspiration. They destroyed her village and forced her to evacuate while the crown jewels of her ancestors burnt. Time after time the invaders had taken from Sarada, forcing her to endure the toughest reign of any Hokage and now they were adding her mother to the list.
The Uchiha curse would have had Sarada experiencing only one emotion in this moment.
She would have experience hatred.
However, Sarada doesn't feel hatred in this moment, only sadness.
Unending sadness.
Even in times like this the 9th Hokage is the ultimate symbol that the curse of hatred has been broken.
As Sakura groans, Sarada gets to her feet. "I'm going to get you to a medic" she says as she places her arms gently beneath Sakura.
Sakura screams in response, something she rarely did even on the field of battle, "No, No, no… please don't Sarada, it hurts so much".
Seeing her mother in such pain causes Sarada's tears to flow even faster than before. She has never seen her mother scream before, having never thought on the battlefield with her it comes as a great shock. Everyone assumes their parents are immortal, that they are immune from damage and pain until they see it with their very own eyes. If that day comes and a child cannot do anything for their mother it is perhaps the greatest emotional torment, they ever experience. When people are young the ones they depend most upon are their parents, for that dependency to never be reciprocated weighs heavy on the souls of many.
"Just let me die here peacefully" Sakura groans.
Could Sakura die, throughout time so many people had strived to protect her. Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sarada, Uzumaki Boruto, Mitsuki. The Hokages 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 all had moments where they focused on the protection of Haruno Sakura, could someone with so much trust, who so many people have cherished over so many years die, were they not immortal.
"You can't die mom" Sarada smiles through her tears, "Not until I've saved the village".
"Sarada, when you save the village I will be watching, you know that right?".
"I know" Sarada nods, "No matter what you have to keep watching".
"I promise" Sakura smiles while adopting a motherly voice that she used when Sarada was very young.
"I always thought that I would feel cold when I died" the last member of team 7 suggests, "But with you here it's nothing like that all".
"Your chakra is perfect Sarada, you are perfect, your father and I have always thought so".
"Mom…".
"Your chakra is… so… warm".
Saying that Sakura's eyes slowly close, as she spends the last few moments of her life in the warm embrace of her daughter. Looking back on the day Sasuke tried to kill her, his chakra was so cold, it was quite amazing that it could become so warm.
"Mom… Mom… MOM" Sarada yells as Sakura's eyes don't open again.
The 9th Hokage acts pathetically, shaking and spinning her mother in the hope that her eyes will open once more, that they would be allowed a few more seconds together, but it doesn't happen.
Haruno Sakura, is dead.
As the second's pass, Sarada's sobs turn into cries. Her cries turn into whimpers. Her whimpers turn into screams.
She screams into her mother's chest before finally drawing the attention of her father. As her head turns to the sky her screams pierce the ears of all the present shinobi. She cries so hard that she swears her tears must have changed to tears of blood. The rivers streaming down her face in such volume that her eyes pain her just to keep them open.
As Sasuke launches towards his daughter, Boruto realises he can no longer do anything himself. He simply yells a warning to Sarada as loud as he can.
It is futile though, in her present state Sarada can't hear anything.
Just before Sasuke reaches his daughter her head snaps to him and her eyes gaze firmly into his head.
BANG!
Without any warning Sasuke's course changes.
He does not reach Sarada, instead slamming into the floor, creating a small indent around the spot he lands.
Looking onward Boruto's face changes greatly, "Sarada that's…".
"Jariya told me about this once… the unstoppable eyes" Tsunade begins breathlessly, "That's the rinnegan".
Through Sarada's transparent glasses her eyes are no longer red, instead shining a brilliant colour of purple much like those of Sasuke and Madara before her.
It is as Tsunade said.
Her eyes have transformed.
This is the rinnegan.
Sarada gets to her feet, gently laying her mother down before returning her gaze to her father.
"Now, you won't be killing anyone else".