A/N: Thanks a lot for the response for the prologue (I had 17 notifications and this is huge for me!). I didn't expect that and I am incredibly thankful. So, here I am, actually starting this story. Don't forget to leave me your opinion regarding the story! Thanks a lot! And ENJOY!
Spring Lightning
chapter one - Uzumaki Sarada
She graduated the Academy earlier than most students, her forehead protector proved that, she mastered all techniques they had been taught, she had the highest grades in her class, she knew ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu at an advanced level, she had a perfect chakra control - praised by all ninjas that ever saw her, she was powerful, but people still talked behind her back. Those black and cold eyes... It's a trap for us all to fall in... The truth about her...
The truth about Sarada was that she had long realized she wasn't Naruto and Hinata Uzumaki's child. That was what she had been led to believe, but they never really confirmed. She was raven-haired and had black eyes, unlike the couple. Lord Seventh was blonde and had blue eyes, and Lady Hinata may have been dark-haired, but she had the Byakugan. She wasn't theirs. Besides, they had Boruto who was only two or three months younger than her.
But she never asked them. She couldn't bear getting a real answer.
The memory of the time she came home from the Academy, after the graduation exams, with the forehead protector tied around her arm was still pretty clear in her mind. She was so happy that she found Naruto home at that moment. As he congratulated her, he removed the protector from its place and helped her put it on her forehead. "It's better like this. In fact, you remind me of one of my teammates..."
Sarada never knew who he was talking about... Naruto never told her stories of his adventures when he was her age. He'd tell Boruto and he'd tell even Himawari. But he wouldn't tell her and that frustrated the young girl. She felt like nobody's...
"Sarada, Boruto, can you take these up to Mom and Dad's room?" Hinata asked the two twelve-year olds. The yellow-haired boy was playing a game and made a funny face as he nodded, while the girl was reading. They both stood up and took the basket full of newly-washed clothes upstairs. Since he became Hokage, Naruto was rarely coming home. Boruto seemed to mind that more than she did. She understood the responsiblities of a Hokage, though there were times when she wished she had something to talk to.
She noticed the photos on Naruto's desk. One was with him, Hinata, Boruto and Himawari - she had been sick the day they took it. Another one included her too. She was so different from them. How could they lie that she was theirs? And a third one was an old photograph of his own parents, Lord Fourth Minato Namikaze and Lady Kushina Uzumaki. The last one was from his youth, his former team. In the picture there was Lord Seventh, Lord Sixth, Kakashi Hatake, who had been his sensei, and two other ninjas whose names she didn't know. There was a girl with blue hair and yellow eyes, and a guy with sandy blonde hair, red eyes and a huge smile on his face. She's never seen those people and assumed they might've died during the War.
That was another thing people wouldn't talk to her about.
As her brother helped her put the clothes in the wardrobe, Sarada felt something weird in that room. She had been there before, but had felt nothing until then. Boruto didn't notice and exited his parents' room, leaving her behind. There was some kind of illusion there. She had recently improved her genjutsu skills, that was why she was finally able to sense it. "Release."
Sarada couldn't see anything change in the room. Anyways, why would Lord Seventh put a genjutsu in his own room? She left, half relieved, half disappointed. It might've been her imagination.
Naruto released a long sigh. He was finally home after a tiring day at the Hokage Office - after a few years working there he understood why Kakashi-sensei had him take his place after just fifteen years. Tsunade, who had been the Fifth Hokage during the War, lasted less, five or so years. Before her... it was his dad. Naruto wasn't sure how long he had been the village's leader. And before that there came Lord Third; he'd held that position for almost his entire life. The yellow-haired ninja wondered how long he'd last - he hoped for more than his latter predecessors.
"Welcome home," Hinata told him, smiling in that unique and sweet way of hers.
He grinned and kissed her, as he climbed up the stairs with her, heading for their room. He heard music coming from Boruto's and noticed the lights turned off in Himawari's - she must have already gone to sleep. The door to Sarada's room was ajar and he spotted her reading. She did love doing that.
As soon as he closed the door behind Hinata and himself, he noticed. The genjutsu he'd put had been dispelled. An expression of terror and pain appeared on his face when his eyes focused on the photos on his desk. Instead of the faces of the unknown ninjas whose dead bodies had been found on the battlefield, those of his real teammates were there. It was their old photo, the first of Team 7. He was smiling as he stood next to Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke and Sakura. It broke his heart seeing the photo... If anybody asked him, the illusion was for Sarada, so she wouldn't find out about the Uchiha couple, but, in fact, it was for him too. Karin had said they were dead and even if he didn't want to believe it, it hurt...
Then it hit him.
If the genjutsu was gone, then somebody had released it. Hinata wouldn't have - she knew about it, Boruto and Himawari weren't skilled enough to even sense it. The obvious answer was on his lips before he knew it. "Sarada..." She must've seen it. She must've realized.
"Hinata," the Orange Hokage called, turning to his wife. She nodded approvingly, as if she had read his mind. Naruto reached for the photograph, took it and headed for the raven-haired child's room.
Sarada was reading, just like minutes before, focused on her book. It must have been a surprise to see him and Hinata enter, serious expression on their faces. "What's going on? Has anything happened?"
Naruto sighed. "You've been to my room and dispelled the genjutsu there, right? So, I guess you saw the real picture behind the illusion."
The young girl looked at him surprised. She hadn't noticed anything changed then, but now looking at the photograph in Naruto's hand she saw a complete different image than she'd known. His teammates' looks had changed. The girl had pink hair and green eyes, like a version of herself with different hair and eye colors. Those colors belonged to the raven-haired and black-eyed guy in the picture. They were the Uzumaki Naruto's real teammates from his youth, the one he never talked about when she was around, the ones she wasn't supposed to ever see. "Who are those people?"
Seeing Naruto hesitate, Hinata started talking. "Sarada-chan, we believe you must've suspected that we're not..." Her voice broke before finishing. It hurt, having to tell a child something like that hurt.
"...that you're no my parents, yes," the girl continued. "I just hoped I was wrong. Even so, who are those people?"
The yellow-haired ninja cleared his throat before answering. "His name was Sasuke Uchiha and the girl used to be Sakura Haruno before she married him. Sasuke and Sakura Uchiha, they're your real parents."
Sarada was unable to process all that. So it was all a lie... All those people and their mocking words were right... She was the child of a couple, two ninjas, that never wanted to know her, that abandoned her, that perhaps didn't even want her. She was barely holding the tears. "Where are they? Why did they leave me?"
"Sarada! They didn't leave you. They're just... gone" Naruto looked down, pained. He raised his head again only when Hinata took his hand and pointed to the girl. He saw red. He saw that red eye color that he so much missed. Sarada, Sasuke and Sakura's daughter, looked at him, the Sharingan sparkling, as power flowed through her.
"But you don't believe that," she told him.
The Orange Hokage grinned. "I guess so. Nobody that knows believes it."
"Can I ask you one thing? Why did you pretend being my family?"
"Your name is Sarada Uchiha. You are an Uchiha and if bad people found out, they'd come after you. Besides, we don't know for sure how your parents disappeared. If it was somebody's doing, then there's a chance that person could come after you," Naruto explained.
"And we also love you," Hinata added. And somehow that was all Sarada needed to know. So she urged Lord Seventh to start searching again. There were even less chances of finding something, anything, twelve years after, but she couldn't give up. Maybe if she found them, she'd find her place in the world, the place she belonged to.
