*A lot of medical/chakra babble at the beginning of this chapter. Just letting you know.

Chapter 5 - A Spare Piece

Tsunade wiped the sweat from her brow as she finished the operation. It took nearly thirteen hours, but she successfully replaced Sasuke's missing arm with a new prosthetic one. He was just waking up when she began bandaging his arm.

"Looks like the anesthesia finally wore off. Good timing too," Tsunade said. "The morning just started."

"That is good timing. ...Can I ask what took you so long to finish?"

"What? Do you think I just popped this thing on your shoulder and went out for tea for the remaining time? This is a complicated operation. It's pretty much chakra neurosurgery when you get down to it."

Sasuke raised a brow. "Chakra neurosurgery?"

Tsunade finished wrapping the bandages and motioned Sasuke to sit up on the operation table. She encouraged him to work his arm a little. He rotated his shoulder and stretched his arm. It was creaky at first, but Sasuke quickly adapted to it.

Then he realized it was the prosthetic that was adapting to him. It was similar to a glove molding to the size of the wearer's hand. It surprised Sasuke a little. Even more so when Tsunade instructed him to start working his fingers. After few twiddles, they became as nimble as the fingers on Sasuke's right hand. He was shocked by the level of sensitivity the prosthesis was displaying.

"A few more days, and you won't even remember that its a prosthesis," Tsunade commented.

"This is... This feels too natural to be just a prosthetic."

"Like I said, it's chakra neurosurgery. The sensitivity you're noticing is the chakra threads in your new arm."

"Chakra threads?"

Tsunade placed her finger right above Sasuke's thumb. "The median nerve." She moved to the spot above his pinky. "The ulnar nerve." Finally, she moved to his wrist. "The radial nerve. These are the three main nerves that run past the elbow and the wrist to the hand. I've weaved chakra threads into your prosthesis so that they mimic those nerves, assuring you'll have the same sensitivity as you would with a normal arm. Also, I removed the nerve roots in your left shoulder and replaced those with chakra threads too. This connects your left arm to your chakra network. It actually works better than just fitting a prosthetic socket into your residual limb, because the threads can now perform double duty and connect to both your chakra network as well as the rest of your nerves."

Sasuke hummed as he further inspected his arm. No wonder the operation took over half a day. Sasuke always wondered how Naruto was able to move his right arm so deftly. Now he knew the truth. He watched Tsunade grab a clipboard and start scribbling something down.

"Thanks," Sasuke said while getting off the table.

He went to fetch his shirt and his cloak. He had almost forgotten how much easier it was to dress yourself when you had two hands.

"Sasuke... Let me ask you something."

"You can bill me for the arm later," Sasuke said without looking back.

Tsunade threw her pen at his back. "Not that, you fool! I'm not going to charge my disciple's husband. I was just wondering... Why now? You could have gotten your arm replaced a long time ago. Why bother now?"

Sasuke pulled down his shirt. "During my journey, I met someone fiercely powerful... I fought him to the brink of my abilities, and he still managed to walk away alive. To be honest, if it wasn't for Hana, I would be dead right now."

"Hana? The boy you brought back with you to Konoha? It's hard to believe a little kid like that managed to save your hide."

"It was by a hair that he and I managed to survive. That man... Jingoro Masayoshi... he could seal my eyes. He has the ability to nullify dojutsu."

Tsunade's expression warped. "H-he what?! You mean your Sharingan and Rinnegan..."

"He was only able to seal my Rinnegan during our fight. After he did, it was completely useless."

Tsunade touched her clipboard to her chin while she thought. 'A power that renders dojutsu useless...has somebody with an ability like that ever existed in the Land of Earth? No. He might not be a native to that country. He could just be a nomad.'

"Have you told Naruto?" Tsunade asked. Sasuke nodded. "Good. I'll ask him more about this later."

A loud tumbling noise came from outside of the operation room. Tsunade left Sasuke alone to check what was going on. She found her first disciple Shizune crumpled on the hospital floor with a bevy of books, folders and binders sprawled out in front of her. Tsunade sighed.

"Shizune... Has working with Naruto made you as scatterbrained as he is?" she asked.

Shizune groaned and began cleaning up her mess. "S-sorry, Lady Tsunade. ...I've been in a bit of hectic mood lately. I was trying to get these reports to you as soon as possible.

"Ugh... More reports from the autopsy team? Really, what do they expect out of us? We know as little about this 'unknown-nin' as they do."

"Unknown-nin?" Sasuke repeated while exiting the operation room.

He had just finished buttoning his cloak's collar. He saw Shizune picking things off the floor and knelt down to help.

Shizune gave a grateful nod. "Thanks for the help, Sasuke."

"Don't worry about it. Tsunade said she wasn't going to bill me, so I might as well... Hmm?"

Sasuke picked up an open binder containing a diagram of the unknown-nin's chakra network. It was empty: no channels and no chakra points. The unknown-nin apparently had no chakra whatsoever.

'No chakra whatsoever...' Sasuke thought. 'That sounds just like...'

Sasuke recalled his fight with Jingoro. He remembered when he tried to steal his chakra using the Rinnegan's Preta Path, but was unable to.

Shizune raised her brows. "Sasuke? What's wrong?"

"This man... he had no chakra network?" Sasuke asked.

Shizune nodded.

"I see." Sasuke shut the folder and handed it off to Shizune. "Tsunade, when go to Naruto, take these reports with you. Thanks again for the prosthesis."

Tsunade made a confused face. She called out to Sasuke to explain what he was talking about, but he just walked off without another word.

Tsunade was right about Sasuke's good timing in waking up. Morning had only just started. As Sasuke strolled through the village's streets, he could see kids rushing to the academy. He wondered if Sarada was among them.

'Probably not. Sarada wouldn't risk being late to school. Even I know that much.'

That was, tragically, about as much as Sasuke knew about Sarada. He didn't know much about her likes and dislikes. That is, unless she carried on habits from when she was a toddler. In which case, she still despises vegetables, but loves the taste of pee park grass.

'Does she still like dolls? She hasn't grown out of it, has she? She's only ten after all. Though... she is really mature for her age.'

Sasuke hummed while spinning thoughts. Before he knew it, he was window shopping in the marketplace. He stood in front of a hobby shop, inspecting the toys and games shown in the window.

'Maybe not a doll, but a board game... Shogi would be good, right? ...Or a maybe a videogame would be better.'

"Master?" a familiar voice called.

Sasuke looked to his left. He spotted Hana and Sakura standing together, tall bags held in both of their arms.

"Sasuke? Why are you in the marketplace?" Sakura asked. "Did you finish your appointment with Lady Tsunade?"

"Uhm... yeah. It took longer than I thought, but..." Sasuke held up his bandaged arm so Sakura could see. "Do you think it was worth it?"

A warm smile bloomed on her face. She approached her husband and started feeling his new prosthetic limb.

"It's perfect! Even the muscles feel realistic! As expected of Lady Tsunade!"

"So... why are you letting Hana play hooky?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura scratched her face. "Well... you see, last night..."

"So that all happened while I was gone..." Sasuke said once Sakura finished explaining.

He, Sakura and Hana were walking through the marketplace together as Sakura recounted the previous night's events. She pushed her face close to her husband's.

"Don't even think about blaming yourself for not being there. Nothing would have changed."

"Something might have," Sasuke argued.

"Well, unless you can travel through time, we'll never find out. I've already treated Hana, and Ryoma's family came to pick her up. We've moved on already."

"Hmm..." Sasuke glanced down at Hana. "Is it alright for him to be out like this? His injuries are still healing, aren't they?"

"Well... they are, but..."

Hana looked up at his new guardians and gave them a warm smile. "Don't worry about me, Miss Sakura. I might not be in condition to go to the academy, but I can at least help you shop for groceries."

"Hana, I'm thankful for having someone to help with groceries, but-"

"The words 'thank' and 'but' are mortal enemies that should never be in the same sentence together!" Hana quoted.

Sasuke and Sakura both blinked.

Hana smiled. "A special person I knew told me that once."

Sakura paused. Then she began giggling. Sasuke just smiled to himself.

A few onlookers who walked past them were warmed by the scene. It was charming. To them it looked like a father, mother and son were enjoying a happy trip through the market together. Little did the onlookers know, the family in question was missing one person.

It was a depressing day at the ninja academy. Even Shino was put off by Sarada's gloomy mood. She sat with her head down and her glasses on her desk. She didn't answer role call. She didn't participate in ninjutsu class and when it came to take a quiz, she was the only one who turned in a blank sheet. She could have used the fact that she forgot her pencil case at home as an excuse, but frankly, she didn't care enough to bother.

She didn't participate in any of the class activities, excluding taijutsu class. When it was time to spar, Sarada eagerly stepped into the circle. Her opponent – a girl half a foot taller than she was – had a confident look in her eye. That look dissipated when the fight began and Sarada high-kicked the girl's temple before she could even see her leg coming. She toppled over sideways, her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Shino caught her before she could hit the ground.

"Are you okay, Kirie?!" he asked while shaking her gently. She groaned. "Sarada! That know that kind of blow is... Sarada?"

Sarada left the circle and kept walking in spite of Shino demanding she stop. She ignored the looks she was getting from other students and jumped the fence.

"Geez... what's her problem?"

"You think all those good grades finally got to her head?"

"Probably thinks she too good for this place now."

Comments like that started to float around. Shikadai rubbed the back of his neck.

"Class isn't even over and these guys are already getting their rumors ready. Talk about troublesome... Right, Bolt?"

Bolt kept his hands in his jacket pockets. He hummed while watching Sarada's back.

Sarada decided to take the long way home. She had left class early, so she needed to kill another half hour. Plus, she was in the mood for a long walk.

'I shouldn't let my emotions get the better of me like this. My grades will fall. More importantly...' Sarada recalled the moment she knocked out Kirie. 'I definitely went too far... Darn it! This is all because of him!'

Suddenly, Sarada's inner monologue was disrupting by a annoying slurping noise behind her. She glanced back and saw Bolt walking behind her while eating some cup ramen. His slurping was obnoxiously loud. She glared then started picking up her pace. Bolt apparently did so too, because Sarada could still hear his slurping. She broke out in a slow jog then. She smirked when she couldn't hear the slurps anymore.

Bolt threw the empty ramen cup at the back of Sarada head. "Hey~ Stop walking so fast, already."

"How about you just stop following me!" Sarada exclaimed while tossing the empty cup back.

It hit Bolt's knee then fell to the street. Bolt shot Sarada a disapproving look.

"You really shouldn't throw trash at people," he said.

"You threw it first!"

"So if I jumped off a bridge..."

Sarada tried melting a hole through Bolt with her glare. When it failed, she sighed and kept walking. Bolt kicked the ramen cup into an alley and followed her. He walked beside her with his hands behind his head.

"So... you gonna apologize to Kirie later?" Bolt asked.

"None of your business."

"You gonna retake that quiz, then?"

"None of your business."

"What about making up that grade in ninjutsu? If you keep sleeping in class, I'll beat you. Well, I was going to beat eventually anyway, but even Hana might-"

Sarada gritted her teeth. "Can you not take a hint?! GO AWAY!"

Bolt stared wide eyed at Sarada for a moment. Then he smirked and let his hands down.

"Oh~ So that's who's been bunching up your panties..." he said smugly. "I heard Hana and you were living together, but blew it off as just rumor. Looks like it was true after all. So what's it like living with that momma's boy? Does he hog the sheets at night? Does he still wet the bed? Does he stay in the bathroom forever combing his girly hair?"

Sarada's scowl just made Bolt's grin all the wider.

"Hahaha! Must be great having a guy like that for a little brother!"

Sarada snatched Bolt's shirt along with the bolt that hung from his neck and reeled him in close.

"He is not my brother..." she hissed.

Bolt's eyes trembled. It was the first time he had ever seen Sarada so pissed. She looked like she was ready to claw somebody's eyes out, and the troublesome blonde knew they would be his if he didn't shut up. Thankfully, she released him and kept walking. Bolt stayed where he was. He hummed while watching her back.

The sky was orange by the time Sarada made it to her house. She had burned much more than half hour on her little detour. She might still get an earful for showing up late, knowing her much of a worrywart her mother could be. Yet, when she grabbed the doorknob on her house, she didn't hear worried chatter. She heard laughter.

"So wait... Sasuke actually told you that he'd teach you a new technique each time you managed to cut him?" Sakura's amused voice asked.

"Mm-hmm. It was a tough challenge, but I eventually succeeded in cutting Master," Hana's voice said.

"What?! How did you pull that off? Did you use some secret technique developed by the Fujikaze?"

"Nope. Master grabbed the blade. Then I turned it."

"...Honey... I think your age is starting to show."

Sarada heard Sasuke cough. "He tricked me... That's all. It won't happen twice."

"You hear that, Hana? Sasuke's going to be keeping his eyes open for now on."

"Right. Next time, I'll try something extra sneaky then," Hana said. "Like waiting until Master is sleeping... or telling him that his shoes are untied."

Sakura laughed while Sasuke sighed. Their daughter kept standing at the door, her hand frozen on the knob. They were so happy – her father and her mother. Sarada was standing outside, but she could easily tell that the house felt 'full,' and that it didn't need her to help fill it. She had become a spare piece. A doll that you only played house with when one of the others went missing or was broken.

She let her eyes burrow into the door for ten minutes. Her hand had creases from holding the knob for so long. Eventually, she let go. She walked away from the house and started walking down the street again. She had no idea where she was going, but it really didn't matter. Nobody cared where a spare piece went anyway.