Chapter 2

Sarada pretends to hate her father for the next two days before he leaves. She gives him the cold shoulder, doesn't speak a word to him, barely looks at him, leaves when he enters the room. She cringes at the mere mention of him. She scoffs at the sound of his voice.

But a knot in her throat forms when she sees his things laying around the house, or catches his smell, or remembers the nice things he has done during these two years. She is going to miss him terribly, despite everything. If she is avoiding him now, it's because she is trying to prepare herself for having him gone again. She is trying to build armor, to be strong.

It's funny feeling this way. She is sad, yet furious. She wants to punch her Papa, but also hug him and never let him go. She wants to never speak to him, but also learn from him all she can before he goes. She wants him to just leave already, but also to stay with them forever. It's confusing, and painful.

She doesn't truly hate her father. She loves him, with all her heart and her soul. She knows he loves her and her mother too. If she ever doubts him, it's because she can't really understand what he does. She isn't mature enough; she knows. But that's something she can't accept, even to herself. So she pretends she does understand, and she does hate him, and she does doubt him. It helps her cope.

It is hard to hate one of your parents, principally because you never actually want to. You want to love your parents, even after they hurt you. There are degrees of hurt, of course. There are things that are unforgivable. But Sarada thinks she can forgive her father one day, when he deserves it. Just not now; not soon; she doesn't really know.

All she knows is that she has never been more certain of the path she wants for her life: a path opposite from her father's; a path that isn't selfless, and doesn't force her to leave her family behind.

She doesn't pretend to hate her mother, just to ignore her. But it's much harder to be cold towards her. She is, after all, the sole person Sarada allows herself to depend on. She is the one who has always been with her, and whom she's always needed for everything and anything. She thinks that, once Papa leaves, Mama and her will fix things up, be close again, and support each other; but not before.

Mama seems sad. She doesn't smile nor hum those two days after Papa tells the news. Mama's changed Everything's changed. The house is too quiet, too gloomy. Sarada hates it. And it's all Papa's fault.

One the second day after they got the news, Sarada is heading out to meet her team for a C-ranked mission, when Mama's voice stops her.

"Sarada, Papa leaves tomorrow morning."

She knows that. Still, hearing it makes her heart break.

"You're coming to the gates of the village to say goodbye, right?"

She doesn't reply; she has no answer.

"Papa would really want you to be there."

"Why doesn't he tell me so himself?" Sarada snaps, glaring at her mother over her shoulder.

"He'd like to, but... you know how he is."

"And what are you, his messenger? Funny. I thought you were his wife."

Anger lights up Mama's pretty green eyes for a moment, and then she seems to regain composure. "Darling, don't be irrational. Papa is not coming back in who knows how long. If it's the last time we see him-"

"You mean he's probably going to die out there?"

Mama is shocked at the words. "What? No, I don't mean that!"

"Well, maybe he should die."

This time, Mama doesn't bother to conceal her anger. "Uchiha Sarada, what the hell are you saying!"

"Nothing!" she screams, and because she is about to cry, she just turns and runs out of the house at full speed. She doesn't want to look at nor listen to her mother any longer. She doesn't want to face this ugly reality.

It comes as no surprise that Boruto notices something is wrong with her. She practically expects him to.

It is the end of that day – the last day her father will be in the village in a long while. Their mission is finished. Konohamaru-sensei and Mitzuki already went home. Sarada and Boruto are walking in the same direction because they live in close neighborhood, but just when they are about to part ways, Boruto stops her.

"Hey, Sarada, can we talk?"

She regards him with a curious stare. "About what?"

"Well... you know, I heard about... well, your Dad."

Immediately, she says, "No."

Boruto frowns. "Come on, I think we should. I know you're angry and sad and all, but you gotta-"

"You know nothing about me. You don't know how I feel, or what I gotta do, so don't even try to guess it. Mind your own damn business, shannaro!"

She turns and begins to walk away, but Boruto follows her. "See? You're angry! And sad, too. I can see it in your eyes. But mostly, I know it because that's exactly how I would feel if I were you."

Abruptly, she stops. "Really?"

"Yeah! You know, I used to feel this way towards my Dad, but I came to learn and understand that he's just not perfect. He tries his best, but no one is born the perfect father. I think you should consider that."

But Sarada thinks his father is better than hers. At least his father stays in the village, and is a true hero and the Hokage, and didn't pass him on a curse. It's not the same situation at all.

"It's totally understandable to feel this way," he continues. "You don't have to hide it, you know? You can talk about it. With me. Uh, if you want, that is."

Sarada considers it for a moment. Would it really hurt to talk about it? Maybe not. And wouldn't it be better to do it with someone who would really understand her, because he has also had issues with his father? She guesses it would be. She looks into Boruto's eyes, which are just a shade lighter than his father's. She parts her lips and is about to say something, but she realizes that she can't. She doesn't even know what to say; not yet.

"The thing is," she says tiredly, "I don't want to. Not now. Still... thanks, Boruto."

He seems disappointed, and defeated. "Okay. Fair enough. Just know that I'm here when you're ready."

She manages a small smile and then continues walking. He doesn't follow her this time. She is genuinely grateful. That's why, little by little, she allow herself to being to acknowledge him as her soon-to-be right-hand man. It can't be too bad, can it?

She can't help to be secretly glad he is there to support her. It is, truthfully, rather nice to have someone like that in her life: someone that, no matter what, will be there for her, unlike her father.

The next morning, she lays awake as she hears her parents shuffle around in the next room. She pictures Papa getting dressed, packing his things, tucking their family picture inside his pocket, and kissing Mama goodbye. It's their last kiss in a long time. She pities them a lot; she suffers for them, too.

She then hears them walk down the stairs, and she expects to hear the door open and close, but she doesn't. They seem to be waiting for something: for her to come down and go with them. But she won't. She can't. She lays in bed, under her covers, her face pressed against the pillow, and waits for them to give up. She begins to cry only when she finally does hear them exit the house.

Papa is gone. Gone for a long while. Gone, perhaps, forever. No, no; she can't even stand that thought. It hurts so, so much. She wants to run outside and stop him and force him to say, but it'd be useless. She can't force him. She's not strong enough. She's not good enough.

The sun is getting higher in the sky. She begins to doze off after so much crying. Today, she doesn't want to get out of bed. She just wants to sleep and dream of Papa, of him staying, of him loving her. She closes her eyes and wishes with all her heart that the pain will go away, if only for a while.

But just as she begins to lose her grip on reality, she is abruptly awakened by a loud explosion in the distance. Alarmed, Sarada jumps to her feet and looks out her window. A cloud of thick, black smoke is rising to the sky from a place north from her house: a place still within the village.

"What the hell is going on," she wonders out loud, hoping it's just a prank or a small incident, but knowing, due to the bad feeling in her chest, that it isn't.

Suddenly, there is another explosion. This time it is in the east; she sees the fire just from the corner of her eye. The commotion is in another direction, in the east, but also close enough to be within the village. Slowly, she becomes certain something bad is happening. And just as she decides to put her clothes on and go outside, she hears it: a third explosion, this time in the west.

The village is being attacked.

She is running towards the gates, with only one thing in mind: finding her parents to make sure they are okay, and to seek shelter in them.

She has to admit it: she is scared. The last time the village was attacked, and the only one she has lived through, things got real scary. The Hokage was kidnapped and almost killed. A quarter of the village was left practically in ruins. The hospital was full for a week straight; Mama barely slept because she was the one in charge and she was super busy. Had it not been for Papa and Boruto and the other Hokages, the Nanaidame would not have come back – and what then? The end of the world? Probably. What if this time was just like that one? What if this time not even Papa could help? What if it was all even worse?

She needs Mama. She needs Papa. She needs to find courage in them, despite their conflicts. This is much more important than anything else.

"Sarada!"

It's Boruto. She stops in the middle of the empty street, in the center of the village, and looks up at the roofs of the nearest building. Boruto is jumping off of it, with Mitzuki right behind him. She has never been more relieved to see those two.

"Guys!" she exclaims, running towards them. "What's going on?"

"We aren't sure either," Mitzuki says. "A very large group of cloaked men have suddenly entered the village. However, their intention doesn't seem to be to destroy it. They seem to be looking for something or someone in particular."

"The Nanaidame?" Sarada asks, thinking again of those guys that last attacked the village.

"No," Boruto says. "Dad is actually chasing them around. But they're too many. They're also spread around the entire village. They've been causing explosions in all sides of the village, except-"

He is interrupted by the fourth explosion. Sarada says its direction aloud as the three of them watch the smoke rise, horrified: "South."

"Why the hell are they doing this?" Boruto questions, furious, protective.

"I think they want to make all the people come out running of the buildings," Mitzuki says. "I think they're looking for a certain someone among them. I even saw some of them intercept people and then leave them when they realized it's not who they want."

Sarada chews on her lips anxiously, heart beating wildly. She has a really, really bad feeling, that only keeps getting worse. She is no mood to fight. She is too emotionally vulnerable at the moment, as well as tired from crying and thinking so much these past couple of days. She just wants this to stop.

"A group of them is coming!" Boruto shouts suddenly.

Instantly, out of instinct, adrenaline rushes through Sarada's veins and she is on guard. They all turn to where the group of five to seven cloaked figures come running. They seem normal people, but they are showing no skin aside from their eyes, so maybe they aren't even people. They could be monsters, or just clones, or illusions. But that doesn't matter now. Sarada just knows she wants them out of her village. Blinking her eyes into the Sharingan, she decides to make sure of that.

Each of them takes on two cloaked figures. Sarada kicks and punches with all her might, her eyes giving her the advantage of predicting their moves. However, that doesn't prove to be as helpful as it usually is. Even with her eyes and her speed, these guys seem too fast. Several times, they come close to hitting her. Her teammates are having a hard time too, even with their own abilities.

Eventually, she grows a little tired, and she is unable to move in time to dodge one kick. The guy's foot hits her in the stomach, leaving her breathless, and she falls to the ground. She hears her teammates scream her name, and she opens her eyes just in time to see the same guy that kicked her direct his fist towards her face, and she opens her mouth but no sound comes out, and-

"Don't touch my daughter, you jerk!"

Sarada's chest, formerly oppressed with dread, now fills with relief. "Mama!"

Uchiha Sakura punches the guy into a building in one single swift move. The guy is left unconscious and there is a new crater on the building's wall. But Sarada can barely register what has happened before all she sees is her mother worried faces, and all she feels is her soft hands pulling her to her feet, and all she hears is her voice.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Are you bleeding anywhere? Oh God, I was so scared. We didn't find you in the house and we thought you-"

"Mama! I'm fine."

The woman wraps her in a tight, brief embrace, and then pulls away to look behind her. Sarada glances in the same direction and is surprised to see that all the other five men have been defeated. Boruto and Mitzuki are dusting off their clothes, and with them stand the Nanaidame and... and Papa.

Their eyes meet for one second, before Sarada looks away, half ashamed and half relieved.

"Dad, what's happening?" Boruto is demanding. "Who are these people? They're everywhere, and they're so many!"

"Are they clones?" Mitzuki asks. "Who is the leader?"

"We don't know, boys," the Nanaidame says. Sarada's stomach sinks when she notices how concerned and genuinely confused he is. "This is all happening so suddenly. We didn't see it coming. We can't even locate all of them, or where they're coming from."

"Dad," Boruto says, suddenly stern, gripping his father's arm. "Mom and Himawari."

"I know." Raising two fingers to his chest, the Nanaidame effortlessly creates several clones. A moment later, they are all running in different directions, spreading around the village, just like the enemies. "One of them will find them. Right now, I need you to stay with me, Boruto. This seems serious. We ought to fight together."

Fight together. Sarada wonders if she will ever hear her father tell her the same thing. Envy of Boruto momentarily distracts her, so she barely reacts when Mama suddenly yells, "More are coming!"

At first, Sarada sees just a group twice as big as the previous one, appearing from the rooftops and the alleys. But then, another group, even bigger, appears. And more groups. And more. And even more.

"What the hell?" Boruto whispers as him, Sarada, their teammate, and the three Neo-Sannin stand in a circle, with their backs to each other, and surrounded by at least a hundred cloaked figures.