Paradox
08. Behind a Crow's Eyes
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Today was the day where it was foretold that the village would be attacked by three Uchiha. Crimson eyes focused on the sun that was hidden behind some clothes, and was still etched into the horizon. Sarada took a deep breath, and nodded at her mother launching into the air, grabbing onto a stray pole, and slinging herself up to the top of the rooftop. Her mother followed behind her rather gracefully, her lab coat falling gently behind her. Her mother tucked a strand of stray, ebony hair behind her ear, and kissed the top of her head.
"We'll be okay, Sarada…"
Sarada did not know if she could trust her mother. Things felt wrong. They could feel massive spikes of chakra slowly closing in on the village, and she felt irked by it all. She had never felt this much energy together all at once.
She did not answer her mother, keeping her eyes on the rising sun.
She watched from her peripherals as hundreds of ninja launched themselves onto the rooftops, and heard the ruffling of footsteps from below. The civilians were evacuated yesterday afternoon, Orochimaru allowed them all into his many underground bunkers.
"Make sure we stick together, sweetheart," her mother said quietly, her own eyes focusing on all the shinobi that were gathered around.
Naruto and her young father appeared next. No longer were they in their disguises, instead wearing what Sarada assumed was their usual clothing. A bright orange jumpsuit for Naruto, and a dark blue shirt for her father. Her eyes met his, and he also had his sharingan activated. Unlike hers, his was fully developed, three tomoe in each eye, while she had two in each.
"Hey, guys."
Boruto appeared with his hands on his hips. Her other teammate, Mitsuki, was there also. He was to stay in the village and gather sage chakra to distribute when people ran out of chakra. Numerous snakes were stationed around the village, close to tiny slugs that would act as a healing source.
The group saw both Itachi and Kakashi in the distance, surrounded by shinobi. No one questioned Itachi being there, just happy to have more people on their side. Itachi had a reputation, after all.
Sarada's gaze fell back onto her blond teammate, who now had his byakugan activated(1).
"Alright," she heard her mother say. "I need you all to stick with me. We will try and find an opening, if not, we'll smash through one. We're to avoid Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Madara as well as we can. Itachi is fairly sure that Sasuke will try to come for us directly…" she paused at this, her pink eyebrows furrowed. "Our mission is to send Naruto and Sasuke back to their timeline, that is our ultimate goal."
Her mother gave a curt nod. This woman was different to the one that raised her.
She was a shinobi.
"Itachi will try and follow us as well as he can, but his focus is on Sasuke or Madara," she shook her head, "So we can't rely fully on him. I trust all of you in your abilities, and I'm sure the Zetsu that they have brought will not be able to be strong enough to keep us back."
Sarada felt a gentle tap on her shoulder from Mitsuki, who gave her a small smile. "I'll try and help you where I can, but I do have to stay in the village…" his eyes flickered onto Boruto, "Keep yourselves safe. I want to continue to be on your team."
As he said that, his body 'poofed' away, showing that he was a clone.
"Zetsu?" Sasuke said, speaking up.
"They're… clones. They're the only beings that seem to want to fight with those guys," Sarada said, adjusting her glasses. Her mother had said that they would be no doubt part of the assault on the village.
Sarada felt terror build in her chest, and she could feel the same from the other kids. Other than her mother. She was a jonin plus after all, she had been in battles. But maybe not anything like this, where she was one of the immediate targets. Sarada wondered if her mother was holding a steely expression for the rest of them. Her mother was someone who would do that.
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Itachi stood beside Kakashi. They had a lucky break with Orochimaru, now that the civilians were out of the village. It was sort of understood that the village will be destroyed to some extent, but they could always rebuild. Kakashi had been surprised that Orochimaru allowed them to escape using his underground networks, but Kakashi knew better than to question anything like that. The two shinobi were surrounded by ten ANBU, and both Kakashi's and Itachi's ANBU tattoos were visible, further proving their status.
"What do you think?" Kakashi asked, giving a glance to Itachi as he raised his headband.
"We need to keep Sasuke off of the kids and Sakura," he said. "That is the only way we can assure victory, at this point. I'm not fully confident in dealing with either Madara or Sasuke. Worse, if they decide to both take me on."
The Hokage felt like he was sending Itachi off to his death, but he knew that the older Uchiha brother had already accepted that years ago. It was true that as a shinobi you had to expect the worst, and sometimes death was part of that equation. The two men watched as the kids and Sakura headed towards the general direction of the Valley of the End.
"Keep them safe as well as you can, Itachi," Kakashi said.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," he responded.
Three massive chakra approached, and in front of the two men stood three Uchihas. In front of them, was Sasuke. Itachi's eyes flickered onto Madara, who had his eyes closed, dried blood smeared beneath them.
'Ah… he's been revived fully… they must have used the Zetsu as a sacrifice… Orochimaru wouldn't have shared his secret.'
"How are you going to fight with no eyes?" Itachi found himself saying.
Madara looked amused. "I have my ways. Make sure you don't get those eyes of yours damaged, they're mine."
That… made sense.
Itachi had a fully developed eternal mangekyou. Of course Madara would know of this, no doubt from Sasuke himself.
Obito spoke now, "Hokage-sama," he spat. "Just surrender. This isn't a fight any of you can win."
"No can do, old friend," Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, and opened the eye that contained his old friend's sharingan.
"Hmph. Just be aware, he did give you a chance," Sasuke said, before his expression changed for a moment. He glanced behind himself, and scowled thickly. "So, that's where…" before promptly vanishing.
Madara laughed dryly to himself, also vanishing. This wasn't good.
"Where are they going?"
Obito looked irritated. "… probably to that girl."
'Already?'
Itachi glanced at the Hokage, who nodded.
He felt torn over the situation… but he was told to keep those two off of the primary mission. He disappeared in his signature flurry of crow feathers.
The Zetsu appeared, surrounding all of the Leaf shinobi. There was no order, just instant battle.
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The medic landed a brutal hit onto the ground, and watched as debris spewed all around them. Her own daughter had done the same thing, albeit not as powerful as her mother's. Any white Zetsu that had been around were either crushed or had debris thrown onto them, knocking them out.
Sakura looked back. "We're through! Let's go!"
Everyone darted forwards, taking care to not trip on any of the stone or the knocked out white beings. Sasuke looked disgusted as he passed them. What are these? He did not know, and he wasn't even sure if he wanted to know. They made their way into the forest, hopping onto tree branches and getting through as quickly as they could. When he left the village, it had taken him about an hour to reach the Valley of the End where he and Naruto fought. At the speed they were going at now, they could reach their destination quicker.
Boruto was on lookout, and the group was in silence. Even Naruto had nothing to say, and just followed along beside Sasuke. His daughter was just behind her mother, scanning her surroundings and looking out for any irregularities with chakra that was around them. She seemed to not see anything, but Sasuke was still on high alert, also looking around himself for anything that was out of the ordinary.
"Boruto, do you see anything?" Sakura asked, before she was pulled back by the young Sasuke.
She met the mismatched eyes of the other Sasuke, who was perched atop a dead tree. His eyes were focused on Sakura, as he glared down at the group. Sasuke felt his breath still as he regarded his older self. He could feel the man's monstrous chakra, and felt himself shake somewhat. This was what he would become… if he allowed the darkness to swallow him whole.
Sakura let out a growl. "Let us through."
He chuckled at her rather bitterly, "Why would I do that? If you and Sarada come with me now, I might be able to call off the invasion."
Sarada gripped onto her mother's arm, "No way! We're not doing that."
"Then the village will burn," he said, tone almost emotionless. He really didn't care. His focus was definitely more on Sarada and Sakura at that point of time.
His eyes shifted to his younger self. "Explain. How are you and Naruto here?"
Sasuke did not utter a single word, and glanced down at his feet. He knew that the man could trap him in a genjutsu and get him to spill everything. It was too risky. Way too risky.
Before anything else could be said, Sasuke straightened up and blocked a blow from his older brother. Or at least, tried to, as he was pushed back into the forest with such a hard hit.
Itachi's gaze fell onto the group. "You all need to go. And watch out for Madara, I am unsure where he is at the moment."
Above, the crow chirped. "Follow the girl," Itachi ordered, and the crow made a noise of acknowledgement.
"Oji-san…"
"It's fine, Sarada… just go. Now."
He disappeared as quickly as he came, no doubt to pursue Sasuke.
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His mismatched eyes met his brother. He figured where the group was headed to. He found himself at the Valley of the End. It was close to complete destruction, due to his and Naruto's previous fight. It had been a good fight, but Naruto was too weak to keep up. Idiot. If he had of stayed in the village, maybe Sasuke would not have been forced to kill him.
His brother landed onto the lake, chakra flowing beneath his shoes.
"You can still come back from this," Itachi said. "You can help us get rid of Madara and Obito. Surely, you realise that they are using your hatred against you."
Sasuke had always thought that was the case. But even if he was being used, it still allowed him to get his goals. While he did not care about 'ruling the world' like the other two did, he just wanted the Leaf gone. From the distant explosions, he could tell that was happening now. It was riveting to know that the village was being destroyed like he wanted. As for Sakura and Sarada, he wanted them. His child and the woman he… cared for. Sure, he did things the wrong way but it would have happened anyways, and she was always his. It was as simple as taking something that was his to begin with. He deserved that much.
The only reason he had not taken his kid and the girl then, was that he knew that they would be used against him by Obito. The plan always was to turn on Obito once his uses ran dry. He did not want Madara in the equation, but maybe Obito realised what was going on and brought him back for that very reason. While he could handle Obito easily enough, Madara was a whole other separate issue. The man was a monster through and through, and even though he currently did not have eyes, it was clear he still had access to susano'o.
He would have to separate the two to even have a chance of defeating them. Maybe taking out the weaker link in Obito was the best idea, then coming back for Madara at a later time.
Sasuke shrugged his shoulders at his brother's question. "It's all a means to an end."
"Tsk…"
"So, they gave you my eyes, then?" Sasuke asked, stepping forward. "It makes sense, since I have yours now."
Itachi watched on wearily. "… It was needed. They weren't in use anymore."
"Huh…"
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They finally made their way to Valley of the End. They sat atop the cliff's edge, hiding behind large boulders. The group looked down and saw Itachi and Sasuke battling it out, black flames surrounding them. They had very similar abilities, although Sasuke has the upper hand due to the rinnegan. Sakura watched as Sasuke would dart around, replacing himself with Itachi's own summons.
"What do we do?" Sarada asked, her tone hushed.
"We can't intervene," Sasuke responded.
Sakura nodded in agreement. "It's too dangerous to go down there now. But we need to be able to…"
Her attention was caught by something in the distance. Her eyes widened in horror as she watched a man jump down from one of the broken statues, and promptly swung a sword with the intent to behead Itachi.
Luckily, he avoided this.
"Shit…" Sakura said softly, "Don't follow me."
She jumped down, and went straight to Itachi's side. He must have said something to her, and she just shook her head.
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"I told you to stay out of it," Itachi said, eyeing Madara closely.
Sakura did not answer him, but could feel his annoyance rise at her being there.
The Uchiha elder had a wicked grin on his face. Despite having no eyes, he seemed to be able to tell where everyone was. His body was shielded by the blue chakra of his susano'o, and it was clear that it would be hard to break through his defence.
Madara averted his face towards Sakura. "So this is the woman that you're wanting to capture, no? I can't promise that I won't kill her."
Sasuke gave the other Uchiha a look, but did not voice whatever it was that popped into his head.
"She's part of the Leaf, part of the problem," he chuckled, "She surely hates the Uchiha as well. Don't you think she needs to be put down as well?"
Sakura frowned to herself. He was manipulating Sasuke right in front of her. Her eyes focused on Sasuke. She had not seen him face-to-face in a long time. He had barely aged. She felt herself slightly shiver, thinking of that night. But right now, that was not what she can be thinking of. She allowed her seal to activate, and touched Itachi's arm, pushing her chakra into him and healing up any injuries or tiredness.
He gave her a quick nod, but did not take his attention off of his brother and the Uchiha elder.
"That's not your concern," Sasuke said, tone smooth but it showed off his fury of being told about any of this.
Sakura realised then, that maybe she had an immunity to Sasuke himself. Maybe… she could…
"As for the brat," Madara smirked, "I'm sure there's other women that would be happy to have your child."
The younger Uchiha brother snapped this time, and focused his gaze on his teammate. "Shut the fuck up, before I kill you for good."
In response, Madara lifted up his arms and grinned, "Hey, it's just an idea. Might make things a bit easier."
"Your 'ideas' are unneeded," Sasuke snarled back.
"Hmph."
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"Mama…" Sarada said softly to herself.
Sasuke placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, in a hope to comfort her, but she just shook him off. She glared his way. "This is your fault, you know that?"
The young avenger knew damn well that it was his fault. But he could not say anything to her, couldn't even bring himself to. He knew that he had messed up badly, and he wanted to make things right. The way things were going, however…
"Your mother will be fine," Sasuke said, trying to convince the girl – "He does not seem to want to kill her. Or you."
"Tsk…"
The group of kids watched as all four shinobi pulled back from each-other, before charging. Sarada's mother launched herself into the air, clearly going for Sasuke himself. Madara was being dealt with by Itachi, but something seemed wrong. Madara was playing around with him, avoiding all hits that Itachi was trying to get on him.
What happened next occurred in slow motion for Sasuke.
He watched as suddenly Madara gripped onto Itachi's hair, and yanked him downwards before he promptly beheaded him. Next, he ripped the man's eyes out and replaced them into his own empty sockets. Sasuke's eyes widened, and he heard the three kids gasp loudly before Sarada let out a blood-curdling scream.
Almost instantly, as this occurred, black flames licked Madara's armour, and the man had to shrug it all off and jump back, his eyes falling onto other Sasuke. Young Sasuke felt his eyes burn, and his vision seemed to be clearer than ever. What…? His eyes felt like they were burning, but he could not take his eyes off of this train-wreck that was occurring before them.
The three kids leapt out of their hiding spot, as Sakura stood in front of them. Her mouth was agape, and she looked traumatised. Her fists shook by her sides as Itachi's remains sunk deep into the water.
"Sarada—"
"Mama!"
The woman stood fiercely in front of the kids, using her body as a shield.
Sasuke watched as the crow that was perched upon Sarada's shoulder darted forwards and seemingly locked eyes with the other Sasuke.
What happened next, he could not explain.
Sasuke, rather than charging for Sakura again, turned on Madara.
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Sakura was the one that reacted first. "Sasuke?"
His eyes flickered onto Sakura. "I have to protect the Leaf. Whatever you need to do with those kids, do it now. I can keep him at bay for the moment."
Where had this change come from? The crow from earlier seemed to be tired out from whatever had happened, and Sarada darted forward to catch him. Madara was watching the scene play out before him with curious eyes. The other Sasuke unsheathed his katana, and pointed it at Madara.
"I see… well," Madara shrugged, his eyes opening, to reveal the mangekyou that had been shoved within the socket. "I was going to take your eyes after the Leaf was destroyed, but… I don't mind doing that earlier than planned now."
Young Sasuke's eyes focused wearily upon his older self. What had changed? What had that crow done? His thoughts drifted to the now deceased Itachi… he had mentioned something about a jutsu that Shisui had. Could that be it? Surely…
"Sarada, Sasuke-kun, Naruto and Boruto—" Sakura shouted out, catching the attention of all of the kids. "I need you to do that jutsu now."
Sasuke winced at Sakura words before looking over to Sarada. She made her way to him, before the kids all separated. Young Sasuke watched as Sakura stood beside Sasuke. Whatever happened, she seemingly trusted him for the moment.
The two shinobi charged for Madara, who was now very distracted by what was happening.
Sasuke nodded at his daughter, and weaved his hands together for the chidori. He watched as Naruto summoned a clone, and his son created the rasengan without the use of a clone. The girl followed his lead, also summoning chakra into the palm of her hand. The kids nodded at each-other before darting forward, and like before, white flittered in front of them.
This time, though, they did not lose consciousness.
A portal appeared in front of them, ominous in its prescence.
"It worked…" Sarada huffed, gripping her right arm.
Boruto groaned, glancing at his own burned arm.
Naruto and Sasuke were more used to the attacks, and adrenaline was running high through them both. The two boys nodded at each-other, before a blue chakra arm slammed down in front of them, forcing the kids to pull back. Boruto had grabbed onto Sarada, and launched her back, while both of the past boys were just out of reach.
"I don't think so," Madara snapped.
Young Sasuke's eyes flickered onto the elder Uchiha. His expression was of one that was cockiness. Older Sasuke snarled, and summoned his own skeletal deity. It swept away at Madara's blue chakra, and Madara snarled.
"Why stop me? If you let them go—"
"Shut up."
Sasuke felt the back of his eyes pulse, and black fire spread around the portal, enclosing the kids within it rather safely.
Older Sasuke's eyes widened. "Mangekyou?"
"What…?" Sakura said, her eyes flickering onto the young Sasuke. "Itachi…"
Sakura made her way to them, and the flames gave way as she walked passed before enclosing around them again. She knelt down, her chakra stopping her from sinking into the water. Once more, older Sasuke and Madara were at it again.
She pressed her hand against his cheek. "Sasuke-kun, you have to be careful—" she started, "—you'll go blind with overuse. Don't use it unless absolutely necessary."
The diamond on her forehead glowed a gentle pink as she healed the side of his head, and he relaxed into her touch.
"You need to go. Boruto…" her attention shifted to the blond boy. "Take Sarada and run. Sasuke and I will deal with him…"
Sarada opened her mouth to protest, but with a quick weave of Sakura's fingers, she was locked within a genjutsu. Boruto caught his teammate before she could plunge into the watery depths.
"Sakura—"
"Just go. The flames will pass for you, like they did with me," Sakura said her tone gentle and motherly. "Go."
At her last word, the boy turned heel with Sarada in his arms and ran.
Sasuke's attention flickered onto Sakura. "Why—"
"I'm not sure if we'll…" she shook her head. "You two need to go as well."
Sasuke nodded, and Naruto grabbed onto the boy's arm. "Don't die, Sakura-chan!"
She laughed bitterly. "I'll try not to. I think with Sasuke on my side, we might have a little bit more of a chance but… I'm not willing for those two to end up in his hands," her eyes flickered up to Sasuke. "Don't forget…"
With her last words, Sasuke remembered – she wanted Sarada to exist. He promised this girl that much.
With that, she gave them both a kiss on top of their foreheads, and the flames that enclosed around them died down. She made her way back to Madara and Sasuke, who were duking it out rather evenly.
"Be safe…" she whispered, but Sasuke was lucky enough to catch it.
Naruto and Sasuke's looked at each-other, before nodding and jumping into the portal.
