I hypothesized quickly what had been going on.

I knew the facts. I had awakened the Sharingan, passed down in the genes of my family. And using the Sharingan, I was able to visualize things and see the past. Almost as if I was in the past, myself.

But was I?

I remember that my body tremored vigorously, shaken by the realization in the dark reflection before me. I had to pretend nothing had happened and freshen up for training with Konohamaru-sensei and my team. I was going to keep this a secret.

But for how long?

Over the next few days, I pondered over the visions I had before, now going over them carefully as well as I could recall; what was similar, what was different.

Items. There were items, each time, I had touched or held that triggered my Sharingan; I debated whether or not these items had some chakra within them that revealed my power. Could it be any old item?

It didn't work with an ordinary pencil, so I suppose not. There was a point towards one of my theories.

An odd thing that was consistent each time was that I was not human when I awoke in my visions: one time, an insect; another time, a dog; a third time as a squirrel. Were these creatures of any relation to the items I possessed?

Over the weeks that followed, I continued to search my parents' spare room. I consider that time snooping spent as training, as whenever I had a question, my Sharingan would help me find an answer.

One time, a crumpled note with running ink drew my attention. I was thrown into a world of the past where I discovered the note was written by the Hokage himself as a young boy, set up to look like a love note from my father to my mother. It didn't bode well from him. I came to, laughing and wiping tears from the creases by my eyes. There were a few instances like this where there were funny, happy memories of my parents, or other Shinobi in the village as youngsters.

I found Ino and my mother were both good friends, but at the same time, enemies who would back stab or one-up each other whenever the opportunity arose. Master Lee had a strange infatuation with my mother. Chocho is much more like her father in her eating habits and personality than I initially thought. So many connections that webbed the generation before me together; it made it so hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that most of them just nodded curtly to each other when passing by on the street, when they had experienced as a collective, such an intimate era.

As I built up my strength with my Sharingan, and my courage, I decided to explore the past of the Uchiha family. I knew, hidden in this room, were objects that would release decades of secrets into the open to expand my mind; however I had the inkling feeling that they were not simple, nor painless. My father's chronicles had to be dark and dangerous in order for him to flee his village and life within it, and for others to dare not to speak a word.

But I felt I was prepared. Probably.

I came across a peculiar weapon; a dagger, though it resembled a sort of fang. I ran my fingers across the sleek, ivory weapon and onto the scaled handle. Delicate, but powerful. There was an ominous feel to it. I knew it was a type of meaningful to my father as it was kept in a small, locked chest in one of his locked drawers. I clutched it to my chest as I quickly fled and locked up my parent's storage room behind me, knowing I had to be extremely cautious and surreptitious with this important key to my father's locked past…

"Oh, Sarada, that you?"

The voice nearby made my heart stop, scaring me half to death. I scrambled to hide the dagger in the back of my pants in time for my mother to poke her head out of the front door, summoning me. She furrowed her brow suspiciously and I felt all color leave my face. I flashed her a smile to change the mood. It worked.

"Hey, just in time. I grabbed some groceries on my way back from my shift; do you mind helping me wash them and put them away? Two sets of hands are faster than one!" She giggled, and I forced a kind of laughter along with her to mask my nerves, and followed her into the house.

We had small talk, while the dagger burned my skin with a sense of urging, and a thrilling sense of curiosity. The novelty of this precious, foreboding item could have driven me insane. When I was finished, I ran upstairs and closed myself into my room, taking a deep breath and wiping sweaty hands on my tunic. My heart started to palpitate as I reached for the dagger, fingers trembling, mind racing…

I hardly put my fingers to it before I felt the Sharingan form; that strange ocular sensation. My field of vision warped until I blinked enough to readjust in the new setting – it was dusk, and I was a little creature in a woodland area.

My ears were highly sensitive to the surroundings. I stepped forward on cautious paws to quickly come to the realization that I was a rabbit. My hind leg tapped incessantly without my control, presumably an instinctual sign of peril ahead. I continued forward to the dominating male voice just feet forward, on the other side of the bushes…

I snuck a glimpse through the bushes at several figures in dark cloaks over near some tall rocks. One slim, pale man with lengthy black hair drabbled on and on continuously, losing the attention of one colleague. The man shed his hood and peered off aimlessly into the woods around me, until his eyes scanned further downward to the bushes.

When our eyes met, I knew instantly.

I backed up to shroud myself in the temporary protection of the leaves. What was my uncle doing there with these other men? What were they doing here? Who are they? Is this why he was never spoken of? Was my father involved too? How did he know I was here?

Beginning to realize this wasn't the best idea, my body subconsciously froze with rigidity. My fear internalized inside manifested into my muscles, paralyzing me. I flattened my ears to my back as footsteps approached. Suddenly, I'm caught with a rope-like squeeze from behind.

"What's this, my little snake has found?" An eerie, quiet voice mused not far away as the tension around me heightened. My hind leg again began to stomp furiously until I was lifted far enough off the ground where I could not reach nature's floor. "A snack already, this early in the evening, my dear?"

"Leave it," Itachi instructed, whipping the familiar dagger towards me, striking the tail end of the snake that was squeezing me.

The serpent hissed and loosened its grip, just barely enough to drop me. I scrambled to my paws and bounded to escape, until a strong grasp seized one of my hind legs. I felt a snap, much like a dry pretzel as he lifted me up and dangled me towards the other Uchiha, only feet away. The pain was real, radiating throughout my entire body; strong, concurrent waves flooded my body until I felt my extremities numb with shock. I stared helplessly, almost lifelessly, at my uncle before me. His gaze was intense, as if he knew I was more than just an animal.

"You like bunnies, Itachi?" He teased. Itachi smiled crookedly.

"I just don't think it is wise to eat before a mission."

"Ah, what a treat. You Uchihas don't generally care for anything other than yourselves," He held me up close to his face; I could feel his breath on my fur, his tongue running across my neck, resting to feel my pulse which beat so rapidly, I felt would stop at any moment.

This was bad, I shouldn't have come here.

What was going to happen to me, if I died in the past as this rabbit? Was this all merely a genjutsu created by my Sharingan? Would I wake up fine in my bed? Would my true body simply die without cause?

My eyes rolled back as the numbing decreased and the pain intensified. I couldn't help but let out a scream.

"Sarada? Sarada!" There was a light slap across my face. My face contorted from the intense sensation radiating from my leg, and I gripped onto the arm of the person clutching me.