Sakura's Letter

Part 1: Sarada

Uchiha Sarada didn't know what she was looking at. She held the crumpled piece of paper firmly in her hand. She had only just discovered it, hidden among the pages of one of her mother's favorite books: "Medical Ninjutsu: Injury and Remedy." It was a rather well-worn book with stains that striped the back cover and many of its pages, evidence of its recurrent use. Sarada had passed over the book many times out of disinterest, scanning over the many books in her parent's collection, hoping to find a book more suitable to her personal interest. She had also scanned her father's books and scrolls countlessly, longing to learn more about him in his absence: the Uchiha clan, his missions, his jutsu, or anything having to do with the man her and her mother both yearned for.

However, today was a different story. Sarada had returned to the shelves with Sakura in mind this time. She had heard of her mother's many feats in the Fourth Shinobi War as well as her mother's ability to master the Fifth Hokage's Strength of a Hundred Seal. Although she was familiar with her mother's monstrous strength, Sarada had previously witnessed more of her mother's abilities in their encounter with the former test subject of Orochimaru and Sharingan wielder, Shin. She remembered how confident her Father had been in her mother's abilities when they were all worried for her safety after she had been taken by Shin. Ever since that day, Sarada had developed a newly-found interest in her mother's abilities, especially in her medical ninjutsu. Which was precisely why Sarada had singled out this particular book.

Flipping through the pages, she ran her fingers over the aged illustrations and the many scribbled notes next to them, some she recognized to be her mother's very own script. Sarada had retired to the small chair next to the shelves and scanned each and every page, searching for her mother in every word and picture. She had spent a lengthy amount of time reading her mother's notes when she flipped the next page to discover a small folded letter. Sarada had marked its place, between an illustration of the arm structure and its chakra paths and another page with a scribbled note by her mother. She opened it out of curiosity and instantly wished she hadn't. She squinted hard, reading the scribbled characters, discerning the truth behind them. It was a love letter, Sarada realized, from a man named Morio. He was thanking Sakura for healing his injuries as well as professing his love for her. He mentioned the war and Sarada realized this must have been a letter from one of the ninja from the Fourth Shinobi War, one of the many that her mother had used her skill as a medic-nin to heal.

Sarada frowned. She knew her father had a past, but did her mother have secrets too? She remembered the last time she found herself in a very similar situation concerning her father's picture with his former team, particularly disturbed over the red head with glasses standing next to him. She instantly hated this Morio for his misplaced love. Her mother had only ever loved her father, Uchiha Sasuke, the man she was now so devoted to and waited patiently on. Never had she, in his absence, wavered in her love for him... Hadn't she?

Instead of placing the letter back in the book like she had originally planned, she found her fist tightening around it.

"Sarada?" a voice called out to her. It was her father. Shocked, she turned, to find him standing in the archway.

"Papa!" she exclaimed, concealing the note instinctively behind her. "I was just-"

"Your Sharingan," he walked forward, a slight frown appearing on the face that was usually so calm and resolved, "is activated. Something wrong?"

"Oh," she said, allowing the crimson to fade from her irises. "It's nothing. Nothing at all! I was just doing some reading."

"Ah," the tall dark figure remarked, taking her mother's book from her hands and flipping it over to read the cover. He didn't seem to make anything of it and handed it back to her. "Medical ninjutsu?"

Sarada peered up at him. He was never one to pry or push for answers, although she knew that her father could probably tell that something had upset her. "I just thought I'd read up on a little of Mom's specialty."

Her father turned his attention to the shelf, grabbing a book amongst his own. She took the opportunity to shove the note inside her pocket.

"You could always ask your mother anything you are wanting to know," her father remarked as he sat on one of the sofas across the room. Sarada gazed at him as he began reading the book he had picked off the shelf. She couldn't help herself from wondering about the relationship between her parents. Was there ever a time that her mother had given up on him? Was there ever a single moment where she had been tired of waiting? She didn't really want to know that answer, but she still couldn't help herself from wondering. What kind of man was her father, whom many looked to as the co-protector of Konoha? He looked up at her then, as if sensing the turmoil inside of her mind.

Walking over to where he sat, she took the spot beside him. He seemed placated by that and continued to read. The letter burned inside of her pocket and she wanted nothing more than to ask her father all the questions that she had. However, she knew her father was not a man of conversation and Sarada didn't want to bring up his past in any way. Her father had just returned from one of his many long missions that the Seventh Hokage and himself found it necessary for him to go on. He was tired, she could still see and after her mother had healed many of his injuries he had then rested for what felt like days. This was the first time she had seen her father since his return.

"Papa?" she found herself saying before she could think.

"Hn?" was his reply, still scanning the page intently.

"How long are you going to be home this time?" Sarada asked as she offered her father a sad smile.

"Not much longer than the last time," he stated plainly, but this time he met her gaze. One of his eyes was covered by his hair and she knew that it was the Rinnegan eye that he kept hidden. She had made it a point to discover its truth but had not succeeded beyond the vague answers her mother and the Hokage had given her. It was another mystery about him, one of many that seemed to only grow in number.

"Lord Seventh tells me you leave sometimes because you have to and other times because you want to," Sarada blurted out, knowing it wasn't the wisest thing to say. Her statement sounded more accusatory than she had intended. The Hokage had not put it in such black and white terms and had even defended her father, saying that everything he was doing was necessary.

"Tch," her father scowled, "Don't listen to everything that Idiot tells you."

"But it's true, isn't it?" she continued. And this time her question was met with silence. "Because you have to make up for something, right?"

Again, Sarada was met with silence and she thought that she wouldn't get an answer, until he replied with a simple and emotionless "Yes."

"Does Mama have anything that she has to make up for?" Sarada found that she was reacting just as bitterly to this as she had reacted last time. "Will she have to leave one day too?"

Her father turned to her with a puzzled frown on his face. It was barely there, but Sarada could still make it out. "What's this about?" he asked.

Too tired to really consider what she was doing, and just simply desperate for answers, Sarada found herself pulling her mother's love letter from her pocket and offering it to her father.