Chapter Text
3 years and six months before
In a panic, Sasuke runs through a devastated Konoha. Up until this morning everything was still relatively in order, if you can put it that way. Boruto has been brought to the Science Institute with a new mark on his chest, which Kawaki was responsible for this. Boruto explained to Sasuke that he himself asked Kawaki to do this.
Sasuke suspected a deep desperation between the two boys that compelled them to do this. According to the records, Momoshiki tried again to gain the upper hand over Boruto's body.
Also, there has been an incident at the Institute involving Code that ended with Code kidnapping Amado and being taken out of Konoha, whether the suspected scientist was still alive was uncertain at this time.
A few hours later, pure chaos raged in Konoha involving the Uzomaki boy. In recent times, the cases where Konoha is on the brink and Boruto has always been the focus. A huge dimensional gate gaped in the sky, sucking in everything and everyone who couldn't escape or were too weak.
Well, Sasuke doesn't blame the boy for that, he didn't choose to become Momoshiki's vessel and this incident must have something to do with the Otsukis, he's sure of it. He and his father should have taken care of him much sooner, which unfortunately meant Boruto's death. The boy was aware of his fate. Everything that was important to him that his family and friends could live in safety. He and Kawaki have been able to face the consequences where he and Naruto have failed.
The last thing he saw of the boy was disappearing through the gate with the young novice scientist Sumire in his arms and then closing it behind him.
But it's not Boruto that's causing him to lose his composure now and isn't part of his concern now.
The reason is different and lies in his arms.
In his arms lies his daughter Sarada, who is badly injured and has lost consciousness. She hasn't woken up once since he's been with her.
There is now a gaping hole where her right eye should be. The bleeding has stopped on its own, which he takes as a good sign, but it would calm him down even more if she were awake. Any sign, maybe questions what happened to her, or cries of pain, even a helpless whimper, would calm him down a bit.
But her silence is frightening for him and unbearable.
Little Peanut! Please wake up! he begs silently and thinks back to better old days.
Sarada hated that nickname so much and was so embarrassed whenever Sasuke called her that.
Sometimes in the past he made fun of calling her by that name.
Papa, you are so embarrassing!, were her words then, but then she had to grin herself that he called her that and only he was allowed to call her by this silly name.
Sasuke thinks of a time when he made the mistake of teasing Sarada with peanuts in front of her three teammates.
Well the situation ended with Sarada and Boruto immediately getting in a fight after Boruto called her by her hated pet name. Sasuke then had to separate the two brawlers.
Mitsuki observed the situation like he always does and Kawaki….
He watched the boy staring at the scene in fascination and Sasuke clearly saw color in Kawaki's face of the otherwise rather pale boy.
Sasuke distrusted Kawaki in one respect and the reason was Sarada.
Not that malicious distrust between enemies or a dangerous situation.
No, that suspicion was the kind of suspicion that existed among fathers when their daughters started to become interesting to boys or, in some cases, girls.
And Kawaki was clearly showing signs of interest that Sarada has yet to ignore or keep well hidden from her father.
The boy had always been close to her on missions or, judging from a report by Naruto, worked closely with her.
That damn Naruto! Not only that, he recommended Kawaki to Sarada's team.
To top it all off, he must have gotten Kawaki and Sarada together, judging from a girlfriend chat between Ino and Sakura. Sakura was amused that Sarada found a boyfriend and addressed him as "Kawaki kun" in the hospital, like she used to do to her love. A circumstance that Sasuke painfully reminds that at some point in the future he will no longer be the most important male reference person for his daughter.
Ultimately, the boy acts just like Sasuke did around Sakura when they were genin. He clearly sees parallels to his relationship with Sakura and his daughter with Kawaki.
On top of that, there was almost a fight just now.
Sasuke found the boy holding Sarada protectively in his arms and a disjointed Delta, a cyborg created by Amado. Judging by his eyes, there must have been a fight and he must have cried for her.
Sasuke knew this was a dangerous situation for him and Sarada . He had to somehow get Kawaki to let go of Sarada.
First, Sasuke tried to calmly persuade Kawaki that Sarada needed medical attention as soon as possible and that she needed to see her mother immediately.
The boy didn't react to Sasuke's words and still clutched Sarada.
Memories well up in Sasuke as he saw the sight. Sakura also reacted to protect him from harm.
Sasuke slowly got closer to the two and Sarada doesn't make a sound, when he stood almost a few centimeters in front of the two, everything happened very quickly.
Sasuke noticed that in seconds, Kawaki's horn grew rapidly, similar to Boruto's when he lost control of himself.
Within seconds, Kawaki attacks his opponent with his blade Sasuke, which he in turn fends off with his katana.
The strength and hardness of the ninja tool blade that grows from Kawaki's right arm has increased in strength and hardness many times over. Unlike the last time the boy attacked the scientist Amado, Sasuke was able to easily destroy this blade.
Sasuke is well aware of the emotional and desperate state Boruto's foster brother must be in.
Their faces are a few centimeters apart and Sasuke sees the young Uzomaki crying silently incessantly.
This is the moment that Sasuke takes advantage of and traps his opponent in a genjutsu.
Sasuke didn't expect it to be that easy. He has the feeling that his opponent willingly indulged in the genjutsu in order to be able to forget the sorrow and pain.
However, Sasuke can't worry too much about Kawaki and leaves him to his own devices.
He quickly takes his daughter from the arms of her teammate and friend.
Unnoticed, Sarada's body drops something...
But Sasuke doesn't have time to react and he quickly makes his way to Sakura, Sarada's mother.
Where is she? Sasuke asks himself desperately, she must be around here somewhere...
He made his way straight to the hospital. But where the Konoha Hospital was supposed to be, there is a ruin that looks like any other. Rubble and destruction everywhere, which Sasuke is only realizing now. In the streets and alleys of the once beautiful Konoha with all the small achievements and attractions of the 6th and 7th Hokage there are only mountains of rubble, dead and injured.
Konoha has never been particularly lucky in its history. Again and again it became a theater of war or destructiveness of powerful opponents like Pain, or Nagato as he was really called.
And every time Konoha has risen like the phoenix from the ashes.
Unconsciously, Sasuke looks at the rest of his hometown's landmark, the well-known Hokage Mountain.
Where the well-known landmark of the city was once recognizable, only destroyed grimaces are left.
The face of the 7th is even half gone. Startled, Sasuke realizes what it might mean.
If his own daughter's situation weren't so tragic, he would be worried about his best friend.
Desperately he looks for his wife and the otherwise calm person screams anxiously for his wife, like a small child for its mother. "SAKURAAAAA!"
Otherwise he would scold himself pathetically for it.
But his daughter's situation is anything but pathetic, it is life-threatening.
When he seems to have given up all hope, hear her familiar and beloved voice.
"Sasuke kun?" She emerges from behind the rubble. Despite all the dust and dirt on her face, hair and clothes, she's still unmistakably his Sakura. Anywhere he would recognize her beautiful, bright green eyes.
Reassured that her husband and daughter have returned to her, she holds her hand to her heart. Now that both are standing in front of her, everything will be fine again…. Won't be?
Strange she has never seen her Sasuke so distraught, even the horrors of the 4th Ninja World War had left him cold on the outside back then.
She quickly recognizes the reason for this, she is shocked to see her daughter's pale skin color, which is already graying.
Sasuke looks at her with all the hope in his one eye.
Sakura sees the hole from Sarada's empty right eye level, blood starts to clot in places. Asking what happened is obvious.
"Where did you find her? How long has she been like this?" she asks professionally.
She's trying to hide her fucking fear. If she loses her composure, how will her husband fare?
Otherwise he is always the strong, composed one of the two and always gives her support.
This time she has to be the one who has to be strong for both of them.
PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, SAKURA! , she thinks.
Sakura notices Sasuke fighting back tears as she performs the field inspection and examines her daughter with her hands after a chakra flow is still active. Where countless chakras should flow, she only feels cold...
"Her bleeding stopped 15 minutes ago and I found her on the boy Kawaki..." he says in a cracked, hoarse voice.
"Is he responsible for this?" Sakura's hands clench in anger.
Sasuke shook his head in reassurance, "I don't think so. He tried to defend her from me and also has defended her against of one of the institutes cyborgs. I had to lock a genjutsu on him to make him let go of her. He showed no hint of guilt, much more sadness and..."
Sakura realizes what her husband is getting at, and she has also noticed that Sarada is becoming more popular with the boys, especially Naruto's foster son, Kawaki. Without any reason she will not have given him the lavender flowers almost a year ago, as Ino told her. Also, Naruto had already asked her, if Kawaki could watch Sasuke and Sarada's training session. Sakura wanted to ask her husband and convince her to let the boy watch as well.
Sakura never wanted to see the day that Sarada had to die before her parents.
After all her exertion, her tears are now flowing.
Sasuke senses that there is no hope for their daughter when he sees Sakura's tears falling down Sarada's forehead. Both hold each other in grief over their common daughter and cry the pain out of their souls. After what feels like an eternity, Sasuke finds the words back first.
" Would it have helped if I had been with her faster?... I shouldn't have focused too much on Boruto... It's my fault... I ignored Sarada…." Sakura feels her husband's pain.
Sakura shakes her head reassuringly, "Please don't blame yourself for this. We all knew how dangerous Boruto's condition was and that he had to be kept under surveillance... Besides, her death probably occurred in a few seconds to minutes, you couldn't have reacted that fast...and self-blame isn't helping her at this moment..."
Sasuke looks at his wife doubtfully and thinks about what he said, "... What do you mean by that?... Is there anything else you can do for her?... You're not thinking about the Tensei no Jutsu, are you? "No, I can only bring corpses to life with the Tensei no Jutsu. But at the end of the day, they're corpses that either succumb to the natural process of decomposition or the jutsu ends up being broken…" Sakura dries her tears and doesn't want her to look so tearful at what she's now planning to perform.
Before all his hopes are gone, Sakura takes his hands in hers. What lies ahead is for everyone here an end and a new beginning at the same time...
Sakura has been looking at her companion with love since childhood, wishing they had spent more time together with Sarada. Large green eyes, as pure as jade stones meet a coal-black, with the strongest emotions it changes to blood to fiery red eye.
"I know of another way to help her..." Sakura says calmly.
Sakura sees new hope glimmering in her husband's remaining eye, "How am I supposed to help you?" Sasuke is aware that he is not of much help to Sakura in her specialty and yet he wants to do everything in his power to help their girl.
"Keep an eye on her. No matter what. Your job is to monitor her breathing and please hold my hands..." Sakura says seriously.
Sasuke nods to his wife and gives her all his hopes and trust.
Sakura takes a last deep breath for what is to come.
She saw this jutsu once in practice and actively experienced it. Gaara, the Kage of Sunagakure bequeathed all of the user's information to Naruto during his tenure as Hokage.
Important and valuable documents that Naruto doesn't know how to handle and he was smart enough to pass them on to the right hands so that no one messes with them.
This jutsu is as simple as it is explosive, as can be seen from the secret notes of the user Chiyo. With this jutsu you could really bring the dead to life with the fact that the user lets the dead live. A price Sakura is willing to pay if her daughter can live for it.
Sasuke does what Sakura asked him to do and watches Sarada closely. First, Sakura breaks her Byakugou no Jutsu seal. Black tattoos in the form of lines travel across her body, visible on her arms and legs. Nothing to worry about, he's seen it on her quite a few times and he knows that Sakura will use up a lot of chakra for this action.
She slowly begins the procedure and Sasuke feels his hands getting warm, this must be Sakura's medicine jutsu.
"Keep eye contact with her. If she wakes up and is in pain, a familiar face will take away her fear and prevent a panic attack," says Sakura calmly, "...Do you remember when she was smal? She always adored you..."
Sasuke has to smile at the shared memories and becomes melancholic. He misses the time when Sarada was so small and always wanted to be in his arms.
"I can still remember the time well..."
"Yes, these times were good. I remember one day when she wanted to paint your nails and couldn't give up until she got her way...
But papa had granted his little peanut's every wish..."
Strange somehow does Sasuke feel like Sakura's voice is getting older and weaker? Certainly caused by the stress and the effort...
"Don't remind me, Sakura. I had to go to the Hokage HQ for a meeting that same evening and I was standing there with your pink and red nail polish on my hands. Naruto and Shikamaru still tease me about the story to this day..." Sasuke laughs softly.
Nice times together, the best of his life when he thinks about it.
Then, after what felt like an eternity, his daughter's first sign of life.
With a deep breath, Sarada sees the light of day for the second time and says softly, " Papa..."
Sarada looks at him faintly from her remaining eye. Black circles under her eyes adorn her eyes, a small price for the worries and fears of the last 2 hours about his daughter,
" Please rest, Sarada, you have to divide your strength. Think about your chakra control..."
His daughter nods weakly in confirmation and falls asleep again...
The happiness of having Sarada alive again comes at a high price, as he now learns. Shortly after Sarada regains consciousness, Sakura's seal dissolves and so does all contact with the living world.
Sasuke feels the skin contact between him and Sakura breaking down. He immediately looks over at his wife. But is it really still Sakura?
In front of him is a woman aged 90 years or more. The once gorgeous pink hair has now turned gray and dull. Deep wrinkles line her face. Age spots have appeared on all sorts of places on her body and dull eyes that were so bright green until a few minutes ago look at him tiredly.
Stunned and almost in tears in shock, he wants to yell at her and ask why she did it.
The reason for this is obvious and lies in his arm. Before Sasuke can say anything else and wake Sarada up, Sakura grabs her husband's face. Sasuke wants to say so much more to her, but he knows that these are the last words of his love and he doesn't dare interrupt her.
"Please take Sarada away from here. You know who can help her and please don't blame yourself... Because I... don't regret anything... I love you both infinitely..." she says with a raspy voice and gives Sasuke one last goodbye kiss before all life leaves her.
Sasuke knows that Sarada's reserves will not last long and so he sets out with a heavy heart to bring their daughter to a safe place.
But he will return to give his wife a proper burial and to have a place for himself and Sarada to share thoughts with Sakura.