Chapter 3

Sarada is trembling, one arm against Boruto, the other gripped by her mother.

"Damn it," the Nanaidame mumbles, a deep frown between his eyebrows. "Sasuke?"

"I'm taking the ones behind us," Papa says. Sarada glances up at him and the concentrated determination on his face rather intimidates her.

"Sakura?" the Nanaidame calls.

"I'm on the right," Mama says calmly, letting go of her arm.

"That means I'm on the left. Kids, stay right here, okay? Don't inter-"

Before he can even finish the word, a voice interrupts him.

"So there she is!"

An instant later, a new figure appears. It is a man, cloaked like the others, but much bulkier, and with its head uncovered to reveal an unfamiliar, hideous, white face. He is jumping out of the crowd and towards them.

No, not towards them. Towards her.

Sarada is taken off guard. She truly never expected the man to attack her directly. That is why she doesn't react soon enough. The man's hand would have gotten around her neck if Papa had not pulled her away from his reach. She admonishes herself for not being able to protect herself – but then again, she really wasn't expecting this; it paralyzed her.

The other cloaked figures have started to attack. Mama and the Nanaidame, and despite the Hokage's order, even her teammates, fight them as she and Papa jump upon a roof. His sole arm is wrapped tightly around her waist. She looks at him, astonished, but he isn't looking at her. He is looking – no, glaring at the bulkier cloaked person, who stands on the roof of the building in front of theirs. Sarada watches him as he grins wickedly at them, trying to recognize him, but she can't. She has never seen him before in her entire life.

"Uchiha Sasuke," the man says, his grin split across his pale face, making him look even worse. "Nice to finally meet you." His features are unpleasant; he has no eyebrows, his lips practically nonexistent, and he has no nose, only two holes where his nostrils ought to be, like a snake. He looks as ugly as he looks evil, and maybe that's that: his evilness is physically visible. His hair is shoulder-length, covering his forehead, and dark like oil. His left eye is sewn shut with black thread that contrasts strikingly with his skin. His other eye is wide open, totally white, and surrounded by protuberant veins: the Byakugan. Is he a Hyuga? She can't believe it. The Hyugas she knows, Boruto's maternal family, are pretty and nice, not at all like him.

"Who are you?" Papa questions through gritted teeth, voicing the question echoing in Sarada's head since the man appeared. Papa's knuckles are white as he holds on to her tightly, as if afraid to let her fall. He is seething with rage; she can sense it, and it makes her nervous.

"She has grown so much!" the man says, ignoring the question, and now his sole eye is upon Sarada. His stare is deeply unsettling. A shiver runs down her spine, but she tries to conceal it. "She is so beautiful, like her mother! Hey, how old is she? Thirteen, right? Not a child anymore!"

Papa says nothing. His grip on Sarada tightens slightly. She would feel discomfort if she weren't so distracted. She is utterly perplexed. What does this man want? Why does he seem to be after her? What is happening?

The man looks at Papa again, his grin turning into an impish smirk. "You've heard about me, haven't you, Sasuke?"

"Yes," Papa says at last. "I was hoping to find you before you found us, though."

"Well," he laughs, "so I've heard! Now, I love our talks and all, but let's cut to the chase. I have a pair of young, pretty eyes to steal."

Sarada's breath gets stuck in her throat as the realization hits her. This man is after her, and only her. That is why he attacked the village, with these other people that seem to be his minions. That is why they all seemed to be looking for something or someone. And what they were looking for, what he wants, is her and her Sharingan.

Based on this discovery, her brain starts to make inferences, desperate to make sense of things. He must be a doujutsu collector, or another weirdo obsessed with her recently-revived clan. He must want her because she is younger and weaker than the only other possessor of the Sharingan in the world: Papa. Also, Papa only has one Sharingan; the other is a Rinnegan. She is indeed a valuable prey – and that makes her feel so vulnerable, for she is not as indestructible as she thought she was.

Papa's response brings her back to reality. His words come out in a growl that makes her heart tumble: "Over my dead body."

The man lets out a maniac laugh, "Gladly!" Then, he jumps forward, towards them.

The next thing she knows is that Papa has left her side suddenly. He has teleported right behind the man and is about to stab his back with his sword – when the man suddenly vanishes, as well. He reappears on the ground beneath, just a few feet from where the Nanaidame is shoving a Rasengan into an enemy's torso. Papa curses out loud and descends to the ground, to continue fighting.

Sarada is paralyzed once more. She doesn't know what to do now that she understands what is going on. Should she fight? No. It's too risky. If she gets hurt, it is easier for the man to kidnap her. She shouldn't get in the way.

However, she doesn't want to just sit there on the roof and watch her parents, her teammates, and her Hokage risk their lives to protect hers. She wants to protect her own life. She wants to prove she can do it – to prove herself worthy of being her parent's daughter, and her teammate's teammate, and the Hokage's successor.

Plucking up courage, she pulls a kunai out and jumps off the roof. Her eyes bleed red again, its two black commas spinning as an enemy approaches her. She begins to fight him, fully aware of another enemy creeping up to her from behind. In the precise moment, she throws her kunai at him, while she punches the other in the face, exclaiming, "Shannaro!"

The enemy is sent flying backwards, almost bringing Boruto with him if he hadn't gotten out of the way in time. The blond looks at her with surprise, which makes her smile.

"Sarada!" Mama's voice brings her back to reality. "What are you doing? Stay away! Stay safe!"

"I can protect myself, Mama!" Sarada exclaims, proceeding to do so.

They have been fighting for a while now. Other people have come to help them out. Among them are Boruto's mom, Shikadai's parents, Inojin's parents, and Choucho's parents too. If Sarada recalls correctly, all the famous rookie nine are here, fighting together, alongside other remarkable shinobi in the village. This would have helped a lot, and they would have won by now... if the enemies had not triplicated their numbers in a matter of minutes.

They keep coming from who knows where. Sarada tries to analyze them as she continues to punch them. They are flesh and bones, so they are clones, but not shadow clones, or water clones, or any other type Sarada knows of. They seem to be actual humans, but at the same time, they aren't. She doubts they even have distinguishable features beneath their masks. Maybe they are like those children that Shin created: people with no actual identity, no actual autonomy. She thinks it's really creepy.

But creepier than that is how, when they are finally killed, they simply evaporate into black smoke that burns the skin, like acid, and smells of rusted metal.

The enemies have spread around the village once more, in order to break them apart. But Sarada is smart, and she knows that it's a terrible idea to get too far from her parents and the Hokage. They're the only ones she truly trusts to save her no matter what, the only ones whose power she does not doubt. She has more faith in them than in herself.

She is tired of fighting; everyone is, except the enemies, of course. Plus, the smell of rusted metal in the air is growing suffocating; she feels light-headed. Papa is still fighting the main guy, the strongest of all, the leader. He seems to want to keep him distracted so he won't get anywhere near Sarada, and it's working. Every time the guy tries to go for her, Papa gets in his way. The guy seems to be getting angrier by each failed attempt.

"You're even tougher than I thought," he tells Papa, smiling despite the hate in his white gaze. "I might have underestimated you, Sasuke."

Papa responds with a rain of shurikens. The man dodges them easily and laughs.

"Okay, okay!" he exclaims. "I get it. You want me to pull out the big guns? Fine!"

Sarada gasps, realizing that things are about to get worse. She pauses to watch as the guy jumps to a roof and raises his arms. The movement makes all the other enemies freeze, as if they were puppets, and he had stopped pulling their strings. Everyone else stops moving, too. Time seems to have frozen. The only movement she catches, from the corners of her eyes, are two figures rushing to stand in front of her: Mama and Papa. They almost block her sight of their enemy; she can barely seem him now, from above Mama's shoulder.

The guy has started to laugh again, hysterically. Behind her, she hears the Hokage ask, "Who the hell is this crazy dude?"

"He is the one we told you about, Naruto," Mama says, glancing at the Hokage briefly. Her pink hair is messy, her skin sweaty, and her eyes ablaze with green fire. Sarada is amazed by her beauty. "The one after Sarada."

Sarada frowns and cannot stop herself from saying, "You knew he'd be coming for me?"

Mama looks at her, gaze softening with sadness. "We didn't know it'd be this soon. Papa meant to find him before it happened."

That's why he was going to leave, Sarada realizes, eyes widening and watering. The threat out there - it probably wasn't even related to Kaguya; it was related to me. It was a threat for me. And Papa was leaving to find it, to protect me!

"Papa," she whispers, but Papa is focused on the enemy as he continues to laugh. Sarada wants him to look at her and tell her it's true, he was leaving to protect her, not because he doesn't love her and their family. She needs him to, before her heart bursts with regret and gratitude and love.

She is pulled out of her emotional thoughts by a sudden, loud, grumbling sound coming from their enemy on the roof. She gasps when her eyes fall back upon him and see something inside him moving around wildly, as if he were about to implode. It is a disgusting sight, as well as frightening. Whatever he is doing, it's going to decide the fate of this battle.

Blown by a slight breeze, his hair suddenly moves off his forehead to reveal a third eye on the middle of it: a third eye that is the Rinnegan. This means, of course, that he only needs her Sharingan to complete his collection. To get her is to succeed at last.

"This is not good," Papa mumbles. He turns to the Hokage and says sternly, "Everyone needs to get away from here. Now."

"What? Why?"

Papa turns back to the enemy and replies, "Shield the village, Naruto. Protect it and the villagers. We'll take care of this guy."

The Hokage hesitates for a moment, but then finally complies.

Sarada's knees are trembling, just like that time the Chunnin exams were interrupted. Her ears buzz, drowning out the sound of the Hokage telling everyone to retreat and of her fellow shinobi confusedly running away. She would have passed out if Mama had not put her arm around her shoulders and pressed her against her side, positioning her right between her parents. Her warm touch somehow anchors Sarada to reality. She closes her eyes and focuses on the sound of her and Papa's voices.

"Darling, what shall we do?"

"I need you both to stay here," Papa answers. "I cannot let you or Sarada out of my sight."

Sarada wants to cry. How did this day turn out so much worse than it was supposed to be? Things seem bad now, really bad. This guy is too dangerous, too powerful. Papa acknowledges it: not even he can beat him, not alone. But can they even beat him together? Can they really save her from him?

The air around her shifts as if Papa's Susanoo were enveloping them. She opens her eyes a little and sees that, certainly, that purple aura is around them. According to both what he has told her and what she has read about her clan, Papa's Susanoo is a weapon, but mostly, it is a shield; the strongest shield Sarada knows of, in fact. Therefore, this guy is about to do something they ought to be strongly shielded from. Something bad.

Suddenly, black stripes spread around the purple fortress. She recognizes them as the same on Mama's skin when she fully releases her seal. Sarada looks up and sees Mama's marks all over her body and a deep frown on concentration on her face. She is helping Papa like this, with her chakra. This means the shield is now twice as strong now. Sarada feels more secure, but still worried and uncertain. If not even this is enough to save her, nothing will ever be.

The clones attempt to break through the Susanoo without success. The gurgling sound that comes from their leader is getting louder. Finally, the noise concludes with an expected, even louder implosion. Sarada closes her eyes, too disgusted to look. When she opens them again, there is nothing but lots of black, poisonous smoke where the enemy once stood. This smoke is quickly spreading all over the streets. When it comes into contact with the Susanoo, it makes a sizzling sound, but the shield is not affected. Sarada realizes that Papa saw this coming and that's why he told the Hokage to get everyone as far as possible.

Abruptly, a heavy, tall figure appears amongst the smoke. It is the enemy, but... he has transformed. He is even bulkier, taller, scarier. His muscles are three times bigger; his face contorts into a menacing grin; his huge fists clench ad unclench with eagerness. Inadvertently, Sarada has stepped a little behind Papa, as if desperate to hide from this man's sight.

The man begins to laugh again. His voice is deeper, yet equally disturbing. "Well," he yells, "come on! Try and fail to protect your precious child so we can get this over with!"

Papa pulls out his sword and starts to step towards the enemy, closer to where the Susanoo ends. Sarada opens her mouth but panic seizes her throat and she can barely whimper. Mama puts her hand on her shoulder and flashes her a small smile that says, "It's okay. Don't worry. Papa will be okay." But Sarada doubts it. She is so scared. This man – she knows he is not an ordinary enemy.

Papa, be careful, she says in her mind just before her father, covered in a faint glow of purple, dashes out of the Susanoo and towards the enemy, sword held high and ready.

The battle begins. Hopeful and frightened, Sarada watches her father's weapons clash against the enemy's skin and produce no wounds. It seems like this man is using some sort of strange technique that makes him bigger and stronger, as well as faster. His speed is now equal to her father's, which is surprising. Furthermore, his skin seems unbreakable, as if it were made of stone. What technique is this? How can he pull it off? If he seemed inhuman before, he definitely is it now.

In one brief moment, Papa is distracted by one of the clones, who is climbing up his Susanoo and trying to break through it to grab Sarada. This is enough for the enemy to make him lose his balance, as well as snatch his sword away. He then directs the sword to Papa's chest, and Papa cannot move fast enough, and Sarada screams.

The sword would have pierced him if the Hokage had not suddenly come to his aim, kicking the enemy into a building.

"You really thought I would leave all the fun to you, Sasuke?"

Breathing heavily, Papa rises from the ground and smiles at his reincarnated brother. Then, without another word, they move simultaneously and attack the same enemy with all their might.

When the Hokage joined the fight, Sarada's hope strengthened. She has as much faith in Boruto's father as anyone else in the village. She knows that he is as strong as, and perhaps even a little bit stronger than, her parents. There was no better person to support them than him. After all, him, Papa, and Mama defeated a goddess once, as well as other terrible enemies that happen to be her own ancestors. She knows there is no better team, no better chances to win this.

However, this hope gradually vanishes within a few minutes, as she watches the enemy respond to the attacks without restraint nor mistake. While Papa and the Hokage get tired and more frustrated, the enemy only gets stronger: he punches more fiercely, moves more quickly, dodges more swiftly.

"I'm getting bored!" he announces, grimacing, before abruptly putting his palms together and making them glow blue. "It's time to end this!"

And just like that, a current of something that seems to be a hybrid of lightning and water surges from his hands to the ground, and it resurges when it reaches Papa and the Hokage to electrocute them.

Mama reacts instantly and unexpectedly. She dashes out of the Susanoo before Sarada can even scream at her to stop. Any remnants of the poisonous smoke do not affect her at all, due to her still fully released seal. Fast and desperate, she jumps up and descends towards the enemy with her fist raised high, her teeth bared with fierceness, and a fervent word escaping her lips: "Shannaro!"

The enemy is caught slightly off guard, yet he manages to raise his fistion time, so that his and Mama's end up connecting. The impact is loud and it vibrates on the ground and in her bones. Both of them are pushed backwards by inertia. The enemy is as fast as Papa and as strong as Mama, evidently. That's not good. Sarada trembles inside the Susanoo with doom.

Papa and the Hokage were not gravely wounded by the past attack, but they do seem weakened. Papa can't move as fast anymore; he even trembles, as if a bit of electricity remained within him. The Hokage in on his knees, but he is creating two clones and sending them towards the enemy that Mama has joined the fight, it's three against one. It has to be enough, right? It has to mean they'll definitely triumph, right?

Sarada has never hoped more strongly for something before.

The enemy does not seem to care much for the Hokage and his attacks. What he is really aiming at is at Sarada's parents. She thinks it's personal at first. Since he wants her, he has to get rid of her parents first, then of anyone else in his way. But soon, she realizes exactly why he has been attacking them more than the Hokage.

The Susanoo.

In one terrible moment, the enemy gets his huge hand on Papa, grabs him, and throws him as far and hard as he can, towards the Hokage mountain. Papa manages to bounce back mid-flight, but he is met with another weird attack of two elements combined, this time a violent gust of fire and air. This, he definitely cannot bounce back from. It hits him hard and sends him crashing to the ground.

The Susanoo flickers, but Sarada's attention is quickly snatched from this fact when she sees Mama running to help Papa. The enemy is one step ahead of her, though. He gets his other hand on her, and though she is less easy to grab, he succeeds – and he tries to crush her to death.

"Mama!" Sarada screams, desperate to go rescue her. When she notices the black straps of the Susanoo are fading, the desperation grows unbearable.

Yet before she can even more, the Susanoo itself vanishes completely. With both her parents terribly wounded, it cannot be held up any longer, and she is left her bare and vulnerable to the world. Remnants of the poisonous smoke are still in the air. She feels them instantly on her skin, as it tingles unpleasantly, and in her burning nose and mouth, but she pays all this no mind. She is already running, punching her way through the sea of clones, towards the enemy, towards her mother.

"Sarada!" she hears the Hokage scream – and a second later, everything goes black.