Sarada Uchiha- a Lion Among Lions

Chapter 3

Sadara rose early with the sun the following morning and finding the kitchen empty she figured that Sasuke was still asleep, tired from the long journey back to the village. After a swift breakfast the young kunoichi dressed in loose fitting Capri-pants and a t-shirt ready for a run.

The wind was cooler than it had been the previous morning and Sadara’s hands were chilled to the bone when she returned home. Sasuke was cooking eggs in the kitchen and she politely greeted him good morning as she made her way to the sink.

“Do you want some breakfast?” Sasuke asked, not taking his eyes off the pan.

“No thanks, I ate before I left,” Sadara sighed in content as she ran her chilled hands under warm water.

“I thought you’d left for training for the day,” Sasuke struck up a conversation.

Sadara internally huffed at Sasuke’s attempts to act like a normal dad.

“No, I go for a run in the morning before training, but I have the day off today and then survival training tonight so I won’t be back ‘till morning.”

“Night time survival training sounds pretty advanced for a thirteen year old,” Sasuke observed.

Of course that wasn’t the case at all, Sasuke just seemed to be entering protective parent mode at long last.

“Age is irrelevant; I’m a Genin so I require the skills. Besides we’re taking the Chunin exams in about a month and Konohamaru-Sensei wants to prepare us properly since we’re only a two man team without Sensei.” Sadara stated bluntly.

“We?” the raven questioned.

“Bolt and I. He’s a year older than me but we graduated separately and were each the odd ones out in our class. Konohamaru-Sensei was supposed to be trying for ANBU but agreed to train us together since there was a shortage of Jounin for the job.”

Sasuke changed topic quickly but his mind continued to observe his daughter’s expression.

“You said that you’re taking the Chunin exams in a month, how long have you been Genin for?”

“Since I was twelve years old,” Sasuke looked confused, “...I’m thirteen now.”

Guilt flashed in Sasuke’s eyes but it was quickly masked.

“That’s still quite young, are you sure you’re ready for the Chunin exams now?”

“Tch,” Sadara muttered under her breath.  ‘So now he goes off all parental on me.’

“Yeah, Konohamaru-Sensei said that he’s going to help us train in our own particular style to help give us an advantage.”

Sasuke recalled the conversation they had almost started at dinner the previous night and was slightly concerned that his daughter’s training was progressing so quickly.

“So what style are you specialising in?”

Sadara hesitated and doubt flashed in her eyes.

“I don’t know yet,” she admitted, “Mum taught me a few things about chakra infusion but there’s only so much I can do with that, I’m behind in weaponry anyway so I won’t have enough time to get that down as a specialised skill before the exams,” Sadara deliberately left out the Uchiha techniques but that didn’t go unnoticed by the older ninja.

“And the Uchiha techniques?”

Sadara tried not to stutter as she replied, “W-well uh, Konohamaru-Sensei got Kakashi Hatake to teach me a basic fireball, but otherwise I had nobody to teach me the techniques and... I uh haven’t unlocked the Sharingan... so I can’t read the clan tablets and scrolls.”