Chapter III:
The sound of shuriken cutting through the air, a Katon exhaling through her lungs, the earth trembling under her fist and suddenly shearing pain and a blurred vision…
"AAAARRRGHHH. DAMN IT," screamed Sarada as she collapsed onto her knees, clutching her eyes in agonizing pain.
Removing her glasses, Sarada placed her palm over her closed lids and carefully began releasing soothing chakra into both of her eyes.
The pain is getting worse. The intervals between each loss of vision are narrowing. If I keep up like this I might… Damn it! What does this mean?
Once she felt the pain subside, she lifted herself off the ground and moved over towards her targets to extract her shuriken from the bullseye. She then repositioned herself before perfectly curving her shuriken just enough to once again make the bullseye.
After a few more hours, drenched in sweat and completely out of breath, Sarada terminated her training session with a final blow toward a nearby tree. The tree broke evenly into two pieces as it crashed down into the earth. Plopping herself down on the broken tree trunk, Sarada gave out an exhausted sigh before looking up to her crows cawing above her. Knowing exactly what the signal indicated, Sarada stood up from her seat on the tree turned log and began packing up her things.
The day's final streaks of sunlight where beginning to fade behind the tree tops when Sarada felt a sudden jolt of consciousness wash over her as her shadow clone unified back into her body.
Sarada had been sending her shadow clone in place of her at the academy for the past two years. It all started when she came to the realization that her skills were far too advanced for the academy. Blinded by the initial excitement of taking her first official step into the enigmatic world of shinobis, she didn't realize how easy the curriculum was. It wasn't until a few weeks into her second year at the academy, during an elementary lesson on shuriken, that she realized how bored she truly was. Taijutsu, shuriken training, ninjutsu even the basic studies came easily to her. The most entertaining thing about attending the academy soon became arguing with Boruto, a realization that terrified Sarada. That was when she decided something had to be done. She couldn't continue wasting her time at the academy, but she also couldn't simply stop attending. Instead, she devised a plan that would allow her to train all day on her own while also attending the academy. Once she figured out how to maintain her shadow clone at a long range, the rest was easy. She would send her shadow clone in place of her at the academy whilst her true self spent the day training on her own. It was the perfect plan. In fact, keeping it a secret from her attentive mother proved easier than she thought it would be. Since Sarada started at the academy, Sakura began to take up more shifts at the hospital making it almost impossible for them to have an unwanted encounter during academy hours. Sakura, being the workaholic that she was, often stayed late too, giving Sarada the freedom to train to her hearts content without raising suspicion.
What exactly Sarada was training for was a mystery. She didn't particularly care about becoming a ninja. All she knew was that she wanted to get stronger. Her whole life she thought of herself as insignificant and weak. Her father left her, and her mother worked tirelessly for the sake of the village. She wanted to prove herself; she wanted to prove to her father that she didn't need him, that whatever hold he once held over her was gone. With each passing day at the academy and each passing day without her father's presence, Sarada began to feel pessimistic towards the idea of becoming a ninja. As far as she was concerned ninja had become synonymous with abandonment.
Before heading home, Sarada made a stop at her favorite dango shop in hopes of picking up some of her favorite tri-color dumplings only to run into Boruto. Only Boruto was capable of stinking up the delicious aroma of the shop. Three years at the academy practically spending every waking moment together and an entire childhood of play dates and family get togethers couldn't fix their relationship. Every time Sarada caught sight of Boruto an indescribable feeling took hold of her. A feeling she misinterpreted for contempt.
Taking notice of Sarada's presence, Boruto too looked rather annoyed to see her, before noticing her current state.
"What happened to you Sarada? You look like you were mobbed or something," said Boruto, looking surprisingly worried.
Forgetting about her tattered clothing and perspired skin, Sarada gave Boruto a confused look before remembering her sorry state.
"Oh no nothing like that I just…" realizing that she had no obligation to explain herself to Boruto she finished her statement with, "That's none of your concern," before she approached the counter to make her order.
Boruto, not being one to let things go so easily, followed her to the counter.
"Sarada how long are you going to act like this? We've known each other our whole lives. You can tell me what's going on with you. What happened?"
Finding Boruto's concern quite endearing but strangely out of character, Sarada looked over at Boruto, before brushing past his side to grab her order from across the counter. Giving him a faint smile she said softly,
"Good night Boruto," before exiting the shop.