Chapter 2
Tsunade walked with her teammates towards the Uchiha compound. Sakura-ba-chan and Sasuke-oji-san had their baby last week and Tsunade missed it because she had been sick. Mito-baa-chan didn't let her even go near the Uchiha compound until she was 100% healthy, lest of all she contaminates the baby. But now her flu has passed and nothing was stopping her from meeting little Sarada-chan. She sent Orochimaru a small glare from the corner of her eye, lucky bastard already met the baby.
Once they reached the house, Tsunade knocked twice and waited patiently at the door. A few minutes later, Sakura opened the door. She smiled brightly when she saw them and let them in. Tsunade took in her appearance while she took her shoes off. Her aunt cut her hair again, pink locks barely brushing her shoulders and she wore a pink long sleeved shirt and black hakama pants with a long white apron with cherry flowers. She has bags under her eyes and looks overall exhausted.
"Hello you three, haven't seen you in a while. Have you come to meet Sarada?" said Sakura.
"And you as well, Sakura-ba-chan. You look beautiful as always." said Jiraiya.
Sakura snorted and pinched his cheek. "Cheeky brat. Sarada is with Sasuke in the living room, come on."
The future Sannin entered the living room and found Sasuke on the couch with Sarada sleeping on his chest. Tsunade walked forward and took a seat next to him. Sasuke maneuvered himself and his daughter so that Tsunade can look at her. The blonde girl let out a tiny gasp as she looked at the tiny girl.
"She looks like you, Oji-san." said Tsunade.
"Hey, I see you used my gift." said Jiraiya as he looked at the orange toad onesie that Sarada was wearing.
"Well it was rather cute." said Sakura before adding. "And the purple pacifier you bought her is great as well, Orochimaru."
Orochimaru nodded at the pinkette before taking a seat next to Sasuke. He never understood why people liked babies. To him they looked like wrinkled, crying potatoes. But he was smart enough to not say that out loud.
Sakura came with a tray carrying tea and rice biscuits that she put on the kotatsu table. The three genin served themselves and kept a string of small talk. They spoke about the baby, their training and the mountain of D-ranks they have been doing. An hour later, Sarada began crying so Sakura left to feed her. Jiraiya and Orochimaru decided it was time they head home but Tsunade stayed. She was determined to help her ba-chan with whatever she could.
...
The month of June brought Sarada's 3 month anniversary and with it a funny series of events called "Sasuke can't baby talk". Their 3 month old can now laugh and babble in long chains. The new parents obviously encourage her by talking back to her, but while Sakura always baby talks, Sasuke likes to pretend he can hold conversations with his baby. Here's one of them.
Sasuke just returned from a mission and decided to spend some time with his daughter. He took her outside in the garden with him and took a seat next to the pond. Then he started telling her about his mission with Izuna in the Land of Tea.
"You see Sarada-chan, your uncle is not the sharpest tool in the shed." said Sasuke.
"Baaba" babbled Sarada.
"I know he's the Hokage, but that doesn't make him smart."
"Baa, baaaa."
"Well you see I was tasked with being his bodyguard while he spoke with some really important people. Can't tell you what they spoke about though."
"Baba aaaaaa"
"Sorry, those are the rules princess. Anyways on the way back we stopped in a small village there. Apparently there was a race being held between two rival families, I didn't really pay attention."
"Ba"
"Because I try to filter out stupidity honey, and you should as well. Anyways your uncle wanted to watch the race and since I couldn't abandon him, even thought I wanted to, I had to stay as well."
"Aaaa, bababa baaaaaaa"
"I didn't really pay attention to the race, sorry. I'll ask Izuna later if you want."
"Ba."
"Alright then. See the problem is that one of the rival families caught wind that the Hokage was viewing the race and invited him to tea. And your uncle, being a moron, accepted. We had to spend an extra day in the Land of Tea because of him. And that my darling is why I am late. Can you forgive me?"
"Aaaa ba baaaaaaa"
"Thank you my dear."
...
At 6 months old and a half, Sarada started her crawling phase. With this new addition, her parents have baby proofed their entire house. Anything fragile has been put on the highest shelf, sharp corners have been softened and their weapons are monitored 24/7 so that Sarada doesn't get to them. Right now Sarada was with Sakura in the living room, playing on the empty area. Sasuke was in the next room, sharpening his kunai. He continued his work before he heard a "Sarada no!" and a thud. He immediately bolted out of the room to check on his girls and found Sakura flat on her back with a giggling Sarada on her chest. Sasuke picked up his little girl and asked Sakura what happened.
"I took my eyes off of her for one second to check on the boiling milk and when I returned she was ready to fall off the couch. Luckily I managed to dive in front of her and cushion her fall." said Sakura while getting up. "You're a little headache, you know that?" Sarada happily babled back to her mother and Sakura smiled. "Ooh, you're lucky you're so cute."
...
Sarada's one year birthday was an event that brought happiness to both her parents and their friends. It was a small gathering, just Sakura, Sasuke, the birthday girl, Mito, Izuna, Tobirama, their teams and the future Sannin. They held the party inside because it was unfortunately raining that day and all of the kids took turns in playing with the small girl. Torifu read her a story, Jiraiya gave her a piggyback ride, Orochimaru and Koharu played hide the toy and seek it, Tsunade played with her with plushies, Kagami played peek-a-boo until Sarada got bored of him, Hiruzen would throw her in the air then catch her while Homura ran all around the house with her. Only Danzo remained seated with the adults, which secretly pleased Sasuke. He did not want him near his daughter.
Then they served chocolate cake to the adults while Sarada ate her favourite food, mashed apples. Mito happily helped in keeping Sarada distracted while Sakura fed her. Afterwards they opened the gifts. Koharu bought her several cute dresses, Orochimaru got her several children's books, Jiraiya unsealed from a scroll a huge toad plushies that was the size of Sakura, Tsunade and Mito got her a soft blanket that they knitted together, Tobirama got her a white fur collar similar to his own for when she is older. Not to be outdone, Izuna got her a dark blue haori similar to that of her mother's, again for when she's older, Torifu got her a fake kitchen set made of baby-safe materials, Danzo got her multiple dolls, Hiruzen got her a cute little monkey plushie while Homura gifted her a picture book of animals. But Kagami's gift was the best one. He gifted her his summoning contract.
"I don't really have any family and Sarada-chan is kinda like my niece so...I want her to have it. It's a contract with the crows." said Kagami while blushing slightly.
"Kagami..." said Sakura before bringing him close in a hug. He and Koharu had been a great help with Sarada, especially when they needed a babysitter. "Thank you, it's a wonderful gift."
"I'm glad you like it. I'm sure they will be of great aid to her, just as they have been to me."
...
A few months after her birthday, Sarada said her first word. It happened during breakfast, Sakura was preparing some mashed bananas for her daughter while Sasuke was drinking his coffee. Sarada started making grabby motions towards Sakura. The pinkette was almost done making her daughter's breakfast when she heard it.
"Ma-...Mama!" said Sarada. Sakura froze and Sasuke spit his coffee. The pinkette immediately abandoned what she was doing and rushed to her daughter.
"What was that honey? Can you say it again?" asked Sakura.
"Mha...ma...mama!" said Sarada before she continued talking. "Mama! Mama, mama!"
Sakura smiled. "Yes dear, I am mama." she picked up her daughter and hugged her close. "Ohhh, I'm so proud of you my little birdie." She kissed her daughter's cheek while the baby laughed.
...
Sakumo waited with his teammates on the bridge of training ground 3. For the first time since meeting her, Sakura-sensei was late. The woman always arrived before any of them so the fact that she wasn't here today worried the white haired boy. His teammates, Shiranui Chihiro and Asogi Reiji, also shared the sentiment.
”Do you think something happened to her?” asked Chihiro.
”I hope not.” said Reiji.
”I'm sure that if something happened to sensei, we would have been announced.” said Sakumo.
Twenty minutes later Sakura finally arrived. She was wearing her hospital attire, consisting of a blood red chinese styled dress that reaches her knees, black pants and white high heels as well as her lab coat. Propped on her hip was a small child with jet black hair and onyx eyes, wearing a frilly white dress and a white bow headband.
”Sorry I'm late. This young lady refused to eat this morning so it took me a while to feed her.” said Sakura.
”Sensei is that your daughter?” asked Chihiro.
”Yup. This is my cute little Sarada-chan and for the entirety of this day, your mission.”
”Eeeh?!” exclaimed the genin.
”I have a lot of surgeries programed today so I can't train you. So I thought instead of letting you waste the day, you can go on a D-rank. I'll make sure to pay at the end of the day.” Sakura bent down and passed the little girl to Sakumo. Curious black pools stared into his eyes before the baby pulled on his long hair.
”Ouch, ouch ouch ouch.” said Sakumo while Chihiro slowly removed the baby's hand from his hair.
Sakura chuckled. ”See, she likes you already. Now I really have to go. Here are the keys to my house and I left a list of instruction for you in the kitchen. Good luck.” and with that she disappeared in a tornado of rainbow colored petals.
The genin stared at the spot where their sensei was a second ago. Then they stared at the small girl like she was ticking time bomb. Sarada simply stared back at them before she started pulling Sakumo's hair again.
This was going to be a long day.
...
Sarada's 5th birthday marked the end of March and with it the beginning of the new academy year. Sarada was officially the age to when she could attend the academy and she was very ecstatic. She woke up 2 hours early and banged on her parents' bedroom door. She yelled at them to wake up while continuously attacking the door.
"Your daughter is awake." said Sasuke, his head buried in Sakura's neck.
"Before sunrise she's your daughter." said Sakura. Despite both wishing they could sleep, the couple slowly rose from bed and while Sasuke took a shower, Sakura went down with her daughter to make breakfast. While Sarada ate, Sakura made her lunch for her first day. She packed a bento with sandwiches, octopus shaped sausages and a few carrot sticks. She also added a cookie as desert.
Meanwhile, Sasuke joined them in the kitchen. He kissed Sarada's temple before pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"Excited for your first day, princess?" asked Sasuke.
"Yup! I already packed my backpack last night. I have books, notebooks, pens and all of the colorful pencils." said Sarada.
Sasuke ruffled her hair before taking a seat next to his daughter. He happily listened to her talk while the family ate breakfast. Suddenly the front door opened and a loud voice was heard.
"I heard my favourite niece is starting her first day!"
"Uncle Kagami!" exclaimed Sarada before dashing to hug her honorary uncle. The curly haired man picked her up and spinned her around.
"Haha, Sarada-chan! Are you ready for your first day at school?" asked Kagami.
"Almost! I still need to finish breakfast and get dressed!"
"Well almost isn't good enough, so let's get to it." Kagami joined the small family at breakfast before letting the three of them get dressed in more festive clothes. Kagami himself was wearing something more special for the occasion. He wore a white kimono shirt and black pants, a long dark blue haori that reached his knees, tied with a light blue obi that had several Uchiha fans sewn in.
Several minutes later, the trio were dressed and ready to go. Sasuke wore a white kimono shirt, light blue hakama pants and a black haori. He also had a necklace that had three silver rings. Sakura wore a light green kimono with white flowers and a yellow obi. Her long hair was pinned in a bun with 2 senbon poking through it. Sarada wore a light grey dress with a black sweater that had a bright red bow tied on the collar. She looked positively adorable.
On the way to the academy, Kagami let Sarada ride on his shoulders while she talked with him. They found Koharu and Mito waiting for them at the gates of the academy. Both waited for them in their own festive clothes. Koharu wore a purple kimono with constellations while Mito wore a yellow kimono with red, orange and brown leaves. They both hugged Sarada once she was put down and complimented her clothes.
”Tsuna and her team send her apologies for not being able to see you on your first day. Jiraiya promised to bring you a gift as retribution from Takumi Village.” said Mito.
”I forgive them, missions are important.” said Sarada.
Afterwards the little family entered the academy. They went to the courtyard where they listened to Tobirama and Izuna give a speech about the new year. Then it was finally time for Sarada to begin her first day. After hugging each and every family member she joined her classmates and teacher.
...
After 7 years of academy, Sarada was officially a ninja. She passed the genin test yesterday and now she waited patiently in the classroom for the teams to be announced. She softly pet her fur collar, gifted from Tobi-oji, as she listened to her sensei talk. Sarada wore a red sleeveless turtleneck shirt with silver trimmings, a dark blue corset that had a purple obi tied around it, long black pants and black sandals. The gifted fur collar stood firmly on her shoulders and Izu-oji's gift haori was tied around her hips, because fuck sleeves, making it look like she had a pants cape. The pair of sai from Jiraiya-nii were tucked safely under the haori, ready for use.
”...Team 5, Uchiha Sarada, Hyūga Yasu and Ayasato Shion, Team 6...” said the teacher.
Sarada looked around at her teammates. This was the first year in a long time when the numbers of boys and girls was equal in a graduation class, thus it was possible for 2 girls to be in a team. Shion was a very determined and polite girl with icy blue eyes and powder blue short hair that has two longer strands tied together in the front, (A\N: Think true form Midna from Zelda.) a midnight blue kimono shirt with white lining tied with a white obi, purple pants and white sandals. Yasu is a relatively calm boy with the standard stick up the ass that comes with being a Hyūga. He has shoulder length black hair tied in a braid, the classic white eyes, a white shirt, a black haori with long, loose sleeves tied with a grey obi and dark blue pants with light grey sandals.
Shion, noticing her staring, waved at Sarada with a small smile, the Uchiha waved back and smiled. Yasu continued to ignore them. Afterwards, one by one the jonin senseis came to pick them up. Sarada was surprised to see that it was Danzo. That man gave her the creeps a lot of time. She knows he was Tobi-oji's student but still.
Despite her apprehension, Sarada walks out of the door with her teammates. Danzo is silent as he leads them towards the training ground. Only when he reaches a clearing in the Forest of Death does he speak.
”We will not be wasting time on introductions. I know your names and you know mine, that is more than enough. Feelings are a hindrance to shinobi.” said Danzo. ”Today I want you all to spar with me so I can see where you stand. Understood?”
The trio nodded and began.
...
A few months later, team 5 went on their first C-rank mission. They were supposed to guard a seamstress to the Land of Lightning where a team of Kumo shinobi will pick her up and escort her home. It was a simple mission and they were supposed to leave before Kumo arrives in order to avoid confrontation. Of course it wasn't that easy.
The seamstress lied to them. She was actually a Kumo kunoichi sent to lure a clan genin to the border so they can kidnap it. The plan was to use that genin as a breeding machine so that Kumo can gain a rare Kekkei Genkai. Imagine the glee she felt when she got 2 rare dōjutsu owners as her ”bodyguards”.
They were ambushed. The second they stepped into the Land of Lightning, several Kumo shinobi appeared and attacked them. Danzo tried to protect his students but he was outnumbered so they had to fight. Sarada charged lightning chakra in her sai and began fighting the Kumo-nin. It was getting very hard to keep up, as the people she was fighting were both stronger and faster than her. In the corner of her eye she saw Yasu backing Shion up while Danzo used Wind Release: Vacuum Blade in order to sent shuriken with increased range and cutting power.
In the end they won, barely. But this mission wasn't useless. It awakened Sarada's sharingan and taught the genin a few lessons. First, they learned what it was like to take someone's life, second they were only alive because of their teamwork and third...
...Danzo had no problem sacrificing them if it meant success.
One of the Kumo nin confused Shion for a clan ninja and managed to kidnap her. Before they could get away with her however, Sarada drove her sai into his temple and killed him instantly. Both Sarada and Yasu reacted accordingly, however Danzo completely ignored her.
It was then that they realized they need to stick together, as their sensei was not trustworthy.
...
Sarada was 19 when the second shinobi war broke out. She was sad when she had to leave her signature white fur and blue haori behind but understood why she needed to wear the standard jonin uniform. It helped her blend in.
She was lucky she and her teammates made their 3 man squad official. They were a terrifying trio together. Sarada was petrifying with her vast array of lightning and fire jutsus, as well as her top notch speed, monstrous strength and crow summons. Shion's Crystal Release and Sage mode made for a deadly combo. While Yasu's mastery of the gentle fist made him a tough opponent.
As long as they were together they were basically unbeatable.
Of course everything went to hell the moment they got separated.
...
Sakura was making tea in the kitchen while humming softly. In the living room, Kushina, Minato, Mikoto and Fugaku were doing their homework for the academy. The four of them became really close friends after an incident at the academy involving ink, a cartoon of chocolate milk and the principal's toupee. Sakura didn't know the details, but she remembers Sasuke coming home looking both mad and deeply amused after a talk with said principal.
She put the tea cups and kettle on a tray as well as a few chocolate chip cookies for the kids to snack on before waking in the living room. She barely stepped into the room when a fox masked ANBU shunshined in front of her. She thought it was another summon to the Hokage tower but soon found out she was dead wrong.
”Uchiha-sama, I have been asked by the Hokages to announce you about your daughter.” said Fox.
”Is Sarada alright?” asked Sakura.
”On Tuesday the 27th, Sarada Uchiha and her squad have engaged in battle with troops from Iwagakure. Sarada has been killed during the conflict. My condolences.”
Sakura dropped her tray. She froze as the news washed over her. No...no, no no no. Not Sarada-chan. Not...not her baby! This has to be a dream. A genjutsu, something...NO! Please let this be a dream. Or a cruel prank by the Hokages.
A shrilled sob ripped out of Sakura's mouth as the reality finally caught up to her. She dropped to the ground as she clutched her head. Tears flowed out her eyes while she continued saying ”no” over and over again. A red blur appeared in her vision and Sakura realized it was Kushina. The redhead hugged her close, crying together with her guardian. At some point the other kids also joined the hug as they mourned together.
Despite not knowing her as well as Kushina, Mikoto, Fugaku and Minato were also really close to Sarada. She was like a secondary sensei to the kids as she thought them things more advanced to the academy. They will all miss the young woman.
...
Sarada's funeral was packed. Almost the entire clan had come as well as people from outside it. The head family stood behind Sakura, Sasuke and Kushina. Behind them stood Koharu, the Hokages, Homura and Danzo. The kunoichi blew her nose in a handkerchief as she stared at the corpse of her adoptive niece. A little to the left of the head family was Hyūga Yasu, the only survivor of team 5, aside from Danzo. Shion died a few months after the war broke out, on a mission she took with Sarada. Yasu had been hospitalized and could not join them so the girls were all alone. It was her death that awakened Sarada's Mangekyō.
A little more in the back were Minato, Mikoto, Hizashi and the Ino–Shika–Chō trio. All of them having looked up to Sarada as an older sister. Sakumo and Chihiro were somewhere to the right, silently mourning the girl they babysitted countless times as genin. Reiji could not join them, for he was also in the Pure Lands. The Sannin were also not present at the funeral, as they were away on a mission, probably not even knowing about Sarada. Nawaki was present though, standing next to Torifu in sadness.
Sarada's body had been thoroughly mutilated by the Iwa-nins. Her face was so unrecognizable that they had to put a cloth over it and she was missing her left leg. Yet despite all that, they still managed to dress her in the white fur and blue haori she had come to be know for.
”May Indra guide your soul to the Pure Lands, oh child of Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Sakura. And may the Sage bless your soul to eternal peace. With this fire I send the to eternal rest.” chanted the elders of the clan before Sasuke, Sakura and Kushina blew a grand fireball to the wooden structure that supported Sarada’s body.
As Sarada's will stated, her grave was to be placed next to Kagami's. As he was the most important person in her life.