"Mom!" Sarada cried. "No! NO!"

Boruto caught her, grabbing hold of her so she could not leave his arms. Sarada struggled briefly before collapsing into him, sobbing.

"We're going to find who did this," he said through gritted teeth.

Her cries turned into pained screams. A broken "Why?" repeated itself between her violent sobs. Then: "Why are you doing this?! Why did you kill her!?"

It was then that he noticed the shadow across them, red flashing from its ghostly face.

The shadow blinked before it came forward to reveal its skin. The clothes and hair were dark and all too familiar.

Sasuke.


IT'S THE FEAR

execution


"You know," Naruto commented, scanning over a roster of available missions on a clipboard, "that you aren't the only Uchiha who dreamed of being Hokage? Just the first one who will reach it."

Sarada fought the urge to lean over and read over his shoulder. "So you will start teaching me?"

He set the clipboard down, rather unhappily before he shifted his full attention to her and smiled."It would be my absolute pleasure. In fact, the way I see it, it's never too soon to prep. As a future Hokage, I'll make sure you have everything you need for the future. This means the knowledge of the past Hokage as well. What I know is at your disposal."

Sarada smiled, barely able to contain her happiness. Regardless her younger age, he had taken her request to meet with him in private to discuss the matter seriously and she appreciated it. Calming herself, she bowed. "Thank you."

The man smiled back at her. But soon that smile sobered.

"Sarada...There're some things we're going to have to talk about. Specifically about the Uchiha history. Specifically your father's. Just general things. But things you won't find in any library."

She stared at him, a sense of worry pricking itself into her. "Is it classified as S-Rank info or something?"

"No...Well, yes. Kind of. It's complicated." His bandaged hand rubbed through his hair, almost nervously. Rumor was he had lost his real appendage during the war. When he and her father had fought that one last time. "Has your pa ever talked to you about why he doesn't stay in the village?"

"Not really. Mom says it's just a long string of important missions, like to search for more of those dangerous white beings and stuff like that."

"He came back to the village for a spell recently, hasn't he?" the man sighed. He was never one for serious talks. Not without it being interjected with personal side comments. "Maybe he should be here for this..."

"The moment he came back, your son nabbed him. He does that all that time. He's with him now, training. But I guess you could say while he learns under him, I can do preparations with you." She gave him a hopeful glance.

"Ah, of course."

Outside the office, an Anbu shifted. "Lord Hokage? That A mission—"

"I'll find another team," he said quickly.

"But sir, there are no other teams. Konohamaru—"

Naruto answered with a frustrated, "Later, Karasu!"

There was a hesitant "Yes, sir" then the man's shadow flickered and he was gone.

With that Naruto shut the door. The room filled with silence. Now in utter privacy he sat back down at his desk, leaning back in his chair, swinging it back slightly.

She glanced to the door, worried. "Lord Seventh, is something going on? An A-rank mission? Our team can handle something of that caliber..."

"You don't miss anything, do you, Sarada? But," he said. "Not now."

He motioned her to a seat stationed in front of his desk. "Go ahead and sit down so we can talk about our first line of business. Your father."

"Alright." She sat, waited for him to continue. He had this strange almost distant look on his face. Perhaps a sense of sadness.

"Seventh?"

"Let's just say there're some skeletons in the closet, and yes I believe they're as dead as dust, history must still be made known, especially to you if you're going to bear the Hokage's mantel, lest history repeats."

_-xXx-_

"Sensei?" Boruto croaked. "Who did..."

Sasuke was holding a sword. This alone was not unusual or worth a second glance. The blood dripping down the steel blade was.

Boruto's words trailed off, his eyes following the line of the weapon. Seeing it drip, seeing the recesses of the holder's skin, his clothes, equally stained. And judging by the splatters...

The blood had come from below, from it spurting up. Not from dripping down as it would have done had he seen and held her after the attack. No. It came from below, directly below.

It was that inward revelation that sent a chill to the marrow of his bones.

"Sensei...?"

This had to be some misunderstanding, a wrong-time-wrong-place kind of thing.

Naruto promptly stood in front of the two. "Sasuke," he said. "You have five seconds to explain this."

Sasuke said nothing, just flicked his eyes to Naruto, the expression dark under the shadow of his long bangs.

"Did you do this?" he asked, voice low and on the verge of becoming a growl.

Then came the most uncaring tone Boruto had ever heard in his life:

"And what if I did?"

Next thing Boruto knew, Naruto was jumping on Sasuke, screaming his name between curses. They crashed through the screen door, breaking it before skidding across the grass outside. The rain had begun to fall, let loose from the heavens.

"Now of all times!" Naruto hissed. Lightning whipped across the skies angrily. Boruto could only rush outside and fall back into the house's paneling, feeling the immense threatening aura that was the Hokage and his operative. And feeling it, the doubts of the man's innocence washed away under pure terror.

It was a look of insanity, of pure malice.

But no. None of this could be right. Only last week Boruto had trained with Sasuke and he was nothing like this! What was emitting such a choking malicious atmosphere at them was another person altogether.

"Explain yourself," Naruto growled slowly, his trembling fist hovering over the Uchiha. The other hand was balled tightly to Sasuke's shirt, so hard his knuckles were white. "Now!"

Rainwater slid down them, and for what felt like a moment fringing on forever, it was the only sound. The water, his breath, tainted by the smell of rust.

And then Sasuke smirked and hope died. Naruto's teeth gritted.

"People always told me ," he said, his voice on the verge of breaking, "that the past would be just too much for you to truly get over. That you would regress back. I always told them to that was impossible. That you were no longer bound by your clan's curse of hatred. But I see now. Always cutting off ties with people, deluding yourself...They were right, weren't they? Regardless my faith you just had to finally hit the point of no return, huh. You crossed that line again and it's for the last time, Sasuke. I can't do it again! I can't carry it when I have the village and my own family to bear. I can't do it again...Not after all these years."

"It was never a burden I asked you to take," Sasuke answered cooly, tone laced with acid. "In fact, I tried releasing you multiple times, you just wouldn't die. I won't fail in that regard again."

Naruto slugged him across the face crying angrily. "Did you kill my family too?! Your's not enough?! Who are you working for? I want the names Sasuke—you didn't do this by yourself!"

From under him, the Uchiha stared with disinterest, even as red dripped from his lips. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. What's it matter?"

The nonchalant tone was a distraction. With lightning speed, his arm jerked upward, stabbing a kunai into Naruto's abdomen. Naruto cringed, rolling off onto his hands and knees. He pulled the blade out, throwing it to the side and grimaced as blood seeped out profusely. He pressed his hand over the entrance but the leakage only continued to spread at a rapid rate.

Sasuke stood and hovered over the Hokage's hunched form, pointing his sword at his neck.

"I hit your abdominal aorta. I doubt the Nine-Tails' chakra can repair it before you lose too much blood. Either way, you're going to be dead in a short while."

"Monster," Naruto spat.

"I'm going to finish what I should have long ago. Hokage."

He had said it so mockingly that it hurt even Boruto. Why was he acting like this!?

Naruto jumped up, foot aimed high, forcing Sasuke to leap backward from the kick. Naruto stood straight, a feral expression on his face as they faced each other once again in challenge. "Give. Me. Names."

Sasuke again just smirked.

"You're about to die and still you bother. Hopeless as ever."

"You're really lost...Sasuke, you're giving me no choice here. Again, one last time. Give me the names of the others."

As apathetic as ever Sasuke stared at Naruto, sword still held out, dripping with Sakura's blood. "You've always been weak. Too dependent. That's why we're here today. Think you're going to stop me? You don't have the balls. You never did, and you never will."

Naruto grimaced. "Don't make me do it Sasuke, I will."

His lips curled into a cruel smirk. "You can't. You said it yourself. One who cannot save his friend can't be Hokage. You'd dirty your perfectly clean hands with my blood, then what would you be? Something you've long fought against. You're pathetic."

Naruto winced, his face pointed down.

Dark eyes trailed to the spectators now and landed pointedly at Sarada. She recoiled back, facial expression aghast.

"Sarada," he said, voice cold. "You're something that never should have happened. A disgrace to the true Uchiha bloodline. I'll have to purge it of you before I leave. You and your connection to the Senju."

He had looked at Boruto when he'd said the latter, voice hinting at an accusing tone.

Naruto ran in front of the two, shielding them. "You won't hurt her or anyone else. Not anymore!"

"That's not for you to decide."

"Sasuke, I'm done with it!" Regardless the fight in his words, there was a threatening sway of his knees, he nearly buckled, hand held over the wound on his stomach. He hissed, orange surrounding his eyes as he desperately dug for chakra to sustain him long enough. "I will not have you polluting the future. I go down, you're going with me."

Sarada pushed past Naruto's stance yelling, "No! What's wrong with you Papa?! Why are you doing this?"

Naruto grabbed her arm, yanking her back. "He's lost it. Sweety, get back."

Sarada shook her head vigorously.

The tomei of Sasuke's sharingan began to spin, expanding. Naruto's hand flew up, covering her eyes.

She cried. "Please, Dad, stop!"

Electricity crackled, slicing forward from Sasuke's arm. Naruto nearly threw himself backward, taking her with him, nature chakra enhancing both speed and distance.

Further, back they stood, his breath slightly labored. "I am done with this, Sasuke. You've given me no choice but to take you down.."

Her fingers clawed his arm, trying to keep him from attacking, and she cried out, "Please, don't, stop. Please! Both of you!" He shook his head, looking at her in compassion "Sarada, I need you to think about the reality of the situation and let me do what I have to do...I'm sorry." After a moment, those fingers that had so desperately fought to keep holding him slowly slid down limply, with tears.

He let her go, pushing her behind him where she collapsed, face buried in her hands.

"Don't look." Naruto said, walking forward. "Don't look back, just keep going."

"What are you saying?" Boruto cried out, reaching for her trembling form.

"Run."

Before he could protest at the notion, Sasuke lunged forward, sword swinging in a wide arc. With a growl, Naruto rushed to block it. Blade held by his arm, their positions locked against the others, his fingers danced into movement, weaving the proper seals for his clone jutsu. "You two will get out. Find help."

The clone he created stood in front of the couple, both shielding and barricading them from interfering with what was clearly going to become mortal combat. More clones rushed by, four, all weaving seals. Boruto barely caught the signs in time. But he did, and he knew what it meant.

An almost impossible to break barricade. It was this moment that it was engraved in him, the truth that they were going to kill each other.

"DAD!" Boruto cried. Never had he seen either so serious. The Kyuubi's chakra swam around the Hokage, pushing Sasuke back for just a few seconds. Words caught in his throat as he reached out in vain. His mouth hung open before his teeth gnashed together. "You do this and you'll...Don't!"

The Hokage didn't respond to his son's cries. Just took a long breath and unbuttoned his haori. What he had cherished for so long, worn with pride, fell to the ground, landing in a puddle at his feet, its crimson letters becoming lost in its folds. He got in an offensive stance.

The red wall of the barrier swept up, entrapping the two fathers in, and leaving their children out. The last thing he heard his father say was: "Boruto. Do as I say and get out of here..."

The rest nearly become lost in an explosion of chakra.

"I don't want either of you to see this."

_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_

"I don't think he did it alone," she whispered. "Like the Hokage said, there were others."

"Yeah," Boruto mumbled numbly, chin rested on his knees.

Neither of them felt like talking. It was as if they had been robbed their voices. The chance to do anything to stop what had happened, what was, and what would. They could only hide and wait out the storm as the literal one let up and faded to a soft sprinkle, leaving them wet and cold. Let the Hokage handle it...

The state of the Uchiha and Uzumaki residence only bore witness to the scale of the assault on all of them. Two different styles of kills. One anything but personal, clinically quick, the other the fringe of a twisted psyche. Yet both had to be connected somehow. Somehow...

Boruto looked to Sarada. She had the heel of her palms dug into her eyes, whispering, "I couldn't stop him...I can't stop any of it..."

She had said it as if she was to blame for all what had transpired. For a moment he was confused but shook his head.

"None of that is your fault," he said softly, staring at the ground. A bug slowly trekked across the path of flashlight's beam as it flickered across the ground, handle moist with faded blood. "He made his choice. They both did. They're just...Geezers."

He wiped his eyes, sniffing. Stupid geezers. Stupid... Seeing his father's back in his mind still, he ached.

They were seated outside the academy. They had come for help, someone, anyone. Maybe it was the rain or the time of eve, but absolutely no one was around. Not even the extra clone that had guarded them. It had soon disappeared and Boruto could only wonder in horror if it meant his father's defeat. He clutched the swing's ropes tightly. His father...Gone.

Remorse ebbed through him like a tide in a dark sea.

His father wasn't coming back. And he was the one who had made that choice. Maybe he hadn't had any other options if it meant protecting them but still...In times of crisis, the Hokage had a terrible record of dying off and leaving loved ones behind. It was just a simple truth, their sacrifice. His father was no exception.

I hate this!

"But who else?" Sarada said, snapping him back to the present of what felt like a twisted nightmare. "The Hokage had no huge enemies to warrant such a personal war!"

"And Sensei. Why would he just...What motives would Sensei even have?"

"Actually..."

"What?" he asked numbly.

Sarada slowly made to his lap, sitting on it. She rested her head against his shoulder. The long strands of her hair wet and clumped together. She shivered gently against him. "Did you ever hear about the Uchiha Massacre?"

"The what?"

"The Uchiha Massacre. Happened when my father was a child."

"No. Dad doesn't like talking about the past before the war. He mostly just babbles on about future plans and junk..."

"That's right. He never even told you about Orochimaru...Well, there's a reason my pa and I are the only Uchiha left."

It seemed stupid now that he thought of it but he had never actually questioned why that was. Now was the miserable time to apparently. "Why?"

"The Hokage told me about it. But I wanted to know more. So, yesterday, after we got back, I started studying my dad's side of the family. I only've known about mom's but no one brings up my other grandparents...I just wanted to know more about me and my sharingan...So I asked around but no one could tell me anything, so I had to read about it instead. I found some files in my father's study. There's a reason no one talks about it. You see, the Uchiha once rivaled the Hyuuga."

"That's impossible," he said, eyes fogging at the mention of the Hyuuga. His mother...His sister..."Have you seen my mom's family? The Hyuuga's a huge clan. Huge estate, we just don't live in it. How could they rival them when they're...Well, just you guys?"

She sighed. "He had an older brother. Itachi. He killed them all."

Boruto blinked. "What? Wait, you're saying you had an uncle and he just offed the clan?"

He actually couldn't even imagine something like that happening in Konoha. Konoha was the Land of Fire's biggest tourist site for cripes sake. For a clan that rivaled the large Hyuuga clan to be taken out within its own gates...And they managed to actually bury this?

"The Uchiha were transpiring to start a coup d'etat. So to protect the village...He killed everyone but his little brother...My dad was like six or something when that happened."

"Geez, no wonder he turned out so screwed up. Sounds like something out of a horror series documenting one of those big city serial killers."

Sarada flinched. "Mom says that's why it's hard for him to be close to us. Seeing that level of debauchery to his family up close traumatized him. Made him hungry for vengeance. Orochimaru drew him further into that darkness..."

"So that's why he left Team Kakashi back then..." Boruto muttered, realization dawning on him.

"But that was before the war. The war changed everything, triggered healing and progress."

Of course, the world's rebirth and the beginning of what would become the biggest generation gap their world had ever known.

But time only proved that people didn't change. Human nature...

"Maybe Orochimaru's ex-assistant, Kabuto, he's influencing him or they're working together again. He made him regress back." Boruto knew he was grasping at straws, but it was the only thing he had. They had to start somewhere.

"But Kabuto earned Konoha's trust—"

"Our moms are dead, Sarada." He pulled out the torn fabric, inspecting it once again. On it, a tiny white speck. A chip of clay? The scale of a snake? "We can't trust anyone anymore until we get to the bottom of this."

_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_

They came upon the orphanage and found it surrounded by a vast grim silence. No children played outside or laughed. Nothing but a quiet solitude. But then again, the ever-growing structure resided in the outskirts of the village, free from the hustle and bustle of the town.

It was a peaceful and safe place, surrounded by only animal life and countless trees. Their branches stood still as the two sped through them, cloaked by the darkness.

Coming upon the building, Boruto figured that everyone, the children at least, were in bed. Kabuto wouldn't dare touch them. That would just be gratuitous and a waste of energy he would have needed for the true heads he was after.

No one answered when the knocked or even greeted them in the foyer.

There should have at least been one person who watched over the entrance. Or kept it locked for that matter, but the door had just swung open as if eerily welcoming them out of the cold.

Sarada came to the same conclusion he did. "Bo...It's just too quiet here, even if they're asleep."

He didn't like the insinuation and it made his blood chill. First the Hokage, then the Hokage's friend. Perhaps there was a connection if someone wanted to hurt the Hokage and initiate an all-out attack against Naruto. But the orphanage? How did that fit in exactly?

Just what was Kabuto's goal?

There were no shocked gasps when the first body came into view, just a knowing grimness, and sincere condolences at the sight of the pale oddity that was a Shin clone. Sarada kneeled beside the rather heavyweight form, fingers touching its neck gently.

"Kid?"

He watched her somberly, fighting back trembles that threatened to rattle his flashlight. He didn't sense an enemy here or anything. But something else. Something intangible, a force maybe. Like a conjured spirit.

"The child's dead."

He uttered a curse, lowering his flashlight. "He's not the only one I bet. Just how far has this gone?"

"I don't know. But we need to find out."

The further they went through the morbid halls, its walls lined with drawings and picture frames, the more apparent the massacre became. No one had been spared, the orderlies remained hovered over their children, but in utter vain and equally devoid of life.

Like Boruto's mother and sister, the hits were quick. There had been no resistance, not at first. The halls gained more blood and rushed strikes as awareness of the murderer must have swept through the scared children.

But there was one truth that set the Shin clones apart from the rest of the parent-less children and the workers.

"Their eyes," Sarada whispered.

Boruto grimaced, pulling a child's head upward. In the flashlight he could make out shiny red, covering the face, matting the hair. And a deep violent slash, crossing with black holes. Empty sockets.

Bile instantly rose in his throat.

"They took their Sharingan," she cried. "They ripped their bloody sharingan out! All of them!"

He dropped the child and rushed to the side, throwing up.

Was Kabuto this sick? Or was it someone else?

Coughing, he wiped his mouth, shaking his head. "I-Is all this for the Uchiha power?" he croaked. "This isn't just about my dad anymore. It has to be bigger...Is it someone who wants to start another coup? Is that why they're attacking our families? And they need the rest of the sharingan? And how's your father in on it? What's he gain!?"

"I don't know," she whispered, shaken up. She turned her attention to the corner of the ceiling. From it, black glistened in the shape of a lens. "But there should be security footage, these kids were killed right in this hallway. Right where the camera is. It'll give us a clue on the attacker themselves. We also need to find Kabuto, see if he was the rat who let this monstrosity in. Or if he's dead as well...The wounds don't match his weapon preferences."

"Yeah."

"We'll split up."

"No," he protested, grabbing at her arm.

She looked at him, eyebrows drawn down as she pulled his hand away. It fell limply. "Bo, someone is killing a lot of people. It's not just my dad, so we don't have time to dilly dally. There's a monster, or a whole lot of them, out there."

"But should we split up? I mean, what if the enemy—"

"Just call for help if you need it. We do have radios."

Phones were common but radios were imperative for any shinobi to carry. Luckily they both had their pouches on. Protests stuck in his throat, he strapped the piece to his neck, placing the bud in his ear.

"Still...We really gonna split up?"

Her sharingan glimmered. "Their bodies are still kind of warm, meaning it was recent. We have two trails, both could be imperative. Kabuto...and the footage. I'll look for Kabuto, put him to sleep if I see him, he'll know the ins and outs of this place and if he wasn't involved, he still has to know something. You check the footage in case it's someone else. The computers should be in the west wing, that's where the security room is."

"Right. But..."

As if feeling the same as he, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. Neither of them bothered with the line that everything was going to be alright. Just clung to the other just for a moment.

Then like a wisp of air, it was gone. She was gone.

Taking a deep breath, he made his way through the dark halls, careful not to disturb the dead, their faces like that of eyeless dolls, their absent spirits leaving them mere husks of an unfortunate demise. Their ghostly forms made his skin crawl, the paleness, the blank sockets...

"It never goes well when they split up in the movies," he grumbled to himself.

"Well, we have radios," a voice buzzed from his earpiece. He smiled grimly, just able to picture her saying this at any other time, with her nose up, pushing her glasses up. "And this isn't a movie, get your head out of the clouds."

Still...

The door to the security room was locked. He felt around the hard surface. Sturdy. Part of him wished it was a cheap wood but that was not the case. He braced himself, channeling his chakra to his feet, aimed for the knob and kicked. With a second kick, the door cracked open, squealing like a dying cry.

"Alrighty," he mumbled, entering in. Multiple screens greeted him, flickering dimly on a ratty looking desk. The electricity was in working condition here at least. But to his dismay, he quickly discovered that the light bulb in the lamp overhead was broke.

Cursing, he sat in the swivel chair and set his flashlight on the desk, and watched the screens for a moment. He could see almost the entire orphanage from the monitors. See the sheer number of bodies. And Sarada as she slowly crept through the halls, keeping in the shadows, her own flashlight off. It was odd how the sharingan could seem to just glow in the darkness, like the eyes of a cat.

Taking a deep breath, his grip tightened on the mouse and he moved the pointer through the time bar on the bottom of the main screen. Time flew backward, bodies rose as a shadow swept behind them.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, seeing it flash by.

He missed it.

He squinted, leaning forward. "Who are you..?"

He briefly recalled his father's words earlier. He had said to call Sakura for help. Just her. Perhaps...His thoughts froze as did his breath, as he focused as hard as he could on mirage on the screen.

At normal speed, it was a dark blur, impossible to catch at the right second. "I'm not gonna let you go," he hissed, fighting with the time on the screen again. To get it to freeze with the assailant in view on just the right fraction of a second. So far it hid in the shadows or was covered by the victim. He leaned even closer, eyes glued to the pixels. Ah—the frame was nearing the point where a head became clear. Whoever they were...His fingers tightened against the mouse, his palms sweaty.

"Almost—"

Pain shot through him and the mouse shattered as a kunai drove through his hand.


AN: Thank you for the follows and favorites and even a couple of reviews! Reviews help me write better! And to write more, so there will be some more BoruSara stories in the future, ones without massacres XD My lands this one starts out so horrible...