SASUSAKU: TROUBLED TIMES

Hope

Over the years Sasuke had become accustomed to spending weeks, and even months away from home. When it was his turn to return it was always a suffering, and he often avoided it by making many stops along the return trip. Jugo and Suigetsu were well aware of the behavior of his friend, and in the form of camaraderie they reinforced this behavior by staying with him longer.

Always returning to Konoha, Sasuke tries to avoid passing by Old Tsunade's cabin because of fear of running into Sakura and meeting her hateful gaze. But that day Sasuke decided to stop by. He didn't know what pushed him to do that, perhaps the constant letters he sent her that were never answered, perhaps the longing to see her beautiful features, her fine figure, and her pink hair. Or just because he knew that his father and Tsunade signed the peace treaty recently. Who knows, but when he told both companions that the route was going to be that way, both Jugo and Suigetsu looked at each other strangely, raising their shoulders, but following his orders.

A few meters from the cabin Sasuke saw a small figure. It looked like a little girl who was looking for something, she seemed concentrated with a serious frown and big dark eyes. Sasuke looked around looking for an adult who could be with her and when he realized that she was alone he approached.

"Hello, are you lost?" he asked curiously as he approached trying not to scare her. The girl stood up suddenly and stared at him. In that look he didn't see fear, but irritability, as if she had been bothered by being interrupted.

"Hello who are you?" the little girl asked simply, pure childish curiosity.

"My name is Sasuke, what about you?" he asked as he continued to approach her cautiously.

"Sarada," she replied with a frown, "Are you also looking for medicinal plants?" she asked with simple innocence.

"No, I'm back home. Do you live around here?" He asked standing at the same height as the girl, almost on his knees.

"Yes, I live in the cabin near here, with my mother and my grandmother," she replied, Sasuke's stomach turned when he heard her words. Her mother and her grandmother...

"Do you live in Old Tsunade's cabin?" he asked surprised. Sasuke's heart began to beat violently. Was it possible that she was...?

"Yes," the little girl said with a broad smile. "Old Tsunade is my grandmother, and her daughter Sakura is my mother. Do you know them?" she asked and those words of confirmation of what he suspected made him get a little more nervous.

"Yes, your mother is an old friend of mine..." he replied smiling, but he needed to make sure that girl was really his daughter. "How old are you?" he asked.

"In January I turned 10 years old," she replied. Sasuke did the mental maths and yes, indeed, the girl with dark eyes and raven hair was his daughter, his 10-year-old daughter. The daughter he believed she had died in childbirth, the daughter his father wanted to take from Sakura. There she was, safe and sound. At that moment he noticed how that look was Sakura's, how every gesture and fraction of her face were typical of her mother. Although at first glance, she was clearly an Uchiha, everything else was her mother's.

"You are too old!" he replied, containing his joy. At that moment he did not feel resentment or hatred towards Sakura, because he understood well why the two Senjus hid the identity of his daughter. Now nothing mattered to him, he wanted now more than ever to talk to Sakura, and want to get to know his daughter in more depth.

"Well, I'm the age I should be if I was born 10 years ago," she replied with such honesty that Sasuke couldn't help but laugh.

"I see you're just as sharp as your mother," he said as he gently patted her on the head and Sarada looked at him strangely. At that moment he felt a reality check; he had been a father 10 years ago and he didn't know it. Sakura went through all of that alone, and waiting for him. He began to feel a sense of nausea from it all. Realizing that Sakura had been raising their daughter alone and with the feeling of having been rejected by him, it all made him feel sick. He hated himself for all of that, not only for having abandoned her, but also for abandoning her with their daughter. Would Sarada hold a grudge against me if one day she knew of my existence? He thought to himself.