Only Time Can Tell

UCHIHA

CHAPTER 44

UCHIHA

SARADA UCHIHA

I followed my father out away from the crowd of the village. It was surprising, even after the rebuild, most things stayed the same, and so did the people. He disappeared behind the treeline and I watched from behind a tree as he entered what looked like a kunai accuracy course. It looked incredibly difficult, with targets in impossible places, behind trees, etc. Of course, I'm already very familiar with this kind of practice. My dad...when he came back, he did little to teach me, but after begging and begging he finally took me out to train one day. He set up the targets and then told me to hit them all at once. I just blinked at him. He wasn't joking though.

"Sarada. You're an Uchiha. You have an incredibly powerful gift. This one is easy, focus your chakra, and curve the blade to hit the targets." I heard the words he didn't say: you can do it because you're my daughter. That's true, because I'm his daughter I've already began to grow my visual prowess with the sharingan and am far ahead in school. Everyone has always compared me to him, but that is an impossible shadow to fill.

"But...papa..."

"You can do it, Sarada. Focus. See them." I knew that he wouldn't leave any other room for argument. I had begged him to do this with me, I can do it. I pleaded for him to teach me, I will learn. I can prove to him just how strong I am. I closed my eyes, focusing on where the targets were. After a few moments, the backs of my eyelids turned into a screen, all of the targets glowed red in my vision. I fingered the kunai, rubbing the hilt with my thumb, silently praying that I would hit them. I weaved my chakra around the kunai, three in each hand, and used it like a guide. I imagined the targets having a magnetic pull towards their centers, if I just could throw them the right way, the target would pull them to it. I took another deep breath, and flung the kunai with as much force as I could muster. I kept my eyes close as I heard the kunai make contact. Had they hit? I was terrified to see my father's reaction to whatever I had done. Would he be ashamed of me?

I blinked to adjust to the light. I looked over the first target, and felt my stomach sink, seeing that the kunai had missed it just narrowly. It was one of the easier targets. I looked over to another...another miss. I looked over to another, but this one had hit just barely, right on the edge of the circle. The last three made my throat catch. I had hit them. Straight in the middle. And I had thrown them so hard that they had sunk straight through the target platform and only the end stuck out like a nail into the tree.

I instantly looked over at my father. Only 4/6. He turned away from me and walked up to the targets, plucking the kunai that had missed and handed them back to me, not looking me in the eyes. I tightened my grip around them.

"How...did I do?"

"Sarada..." He looked up at me, his eyes solemn, I prepared myself for his impending words. He took a deep breath, looking away from me again. But then he said. "You have fantastic eyes." He paused, the weight on my chest lifting a little. "You are gifted. That's why I was surprised when I saw you throw all six of them with your eyes closed. You're blinding yourself." Then without looking back at me he reached back, and tapped me on the forehead. "Try opening your eyes."

"Oh." I said. His fingers leaving my forehead, blush rushing to my cheeks. I blinked, tightening my hold on the kunai. Then I kept my eyes open as I swung my wrist, the moment before I let go, I felt everything around me sharpen, I could see that if I continued my swing like this, the second kunai wouldn't hit the center, it would hit, but not perfectly. I seemed to move in slow motion as I changed the direction by less than a millimeter, letting the two kunai fly smoothly from my hand. I watched as both of the kunai sunk deep through the target and into the tree.

"There's another thing that interests me. It's not doubt that you get it from Sakura." He said quietly stepping towards the targets, pulling hard on each of the kunai to remove them from their targets. He got all six of them this time. "You're...incredibly strong."

I smiled, my ears burning. "Thank you papa."

"Here." He said handing them back to me. "Try it again, with all of them, and loosen up on your grip a little." He said touching my shoulder. It's strange, out here on the practice fields, I feel more like his daughter than at home. Here, I feel like he's reachable. Then he said something that I almost didn't catch. "I'm proud of you."

I watched as he smiled reaching for his kunai. Without hesitating he turned quickly, making a complete 360, the kunai flying from his fingers like raindrops. I watched in awe as they hit all of the targets. My father's skills...were already far better than mine, even at this age. I grinned watching him practice, I'm going to have to work much harder to beat him. I watched as the sun began to set, twilight fell, and soon it was dark. Sasuke sighed picking up his kunai from the ground, wiping his brow.

"I'll beat you one day, Itachi. I won't stand in your shadow." He grinned tucking his kunai away. He then ran quickly past me towards the Uchiha compound. I ran to keep up with him. But then I stopped in the gateway, an incredible flood of cold. I...I didn't change anything yet, I haven't saved them. I turned slowly towards the gaping gateway, it's doors hanging loosely open, the doors creaking in the twilight breeze.

What if I was too late? I was too absorbed in watching my father. What if this is the night? I looked up at the moon, it's fully white surface burning into my memory. I watch as a black flash flies over the moon. Something is happening. The eery silence is echoing inside of me. Then I felt something cool touch my shoulder, and every part of me jumped. I looked up to see a man, his face somehow familiar. His features matched mine, he had the Eternal Mangekyo, he wore long red robes that flowed around him, with long black hair loosely tied back, his face etched with stress lines. He smiled at me, his cold touch sinking all the way to my bones.

"Sarada..." He said his voice like a ghost. "Please...forgive me." He reached out to me, and before I could back away, his fingers touched my forehead. He smiled at my shocked expression. I thought that was only something my mother and my father did. He tilted his head slightly, his eyes solemn and sad. "You look so much like your father." He knelt so he was at my height. His voice I had already heard somewhere. Then my eyes widened even further.

"Come on Sasuke, I know you're happy to see me." That same smile. That same voice. He's...

"Sarada." He said looking me right in the eyes, his eyes filled with love. "There is no one better to begin the Uchiha clan again and...rememeber," He smiled at me his eyes filled with sadness. "You don't have to face this on your own. " My heart began to race, my ears ringing with his every word. Then he spoke again, his smile disappearing. "Please..." He said his eyes filling with tears. "Forgive me." Then his fingers disappeared from my forehead, and his voice disappeared in the echoes. Like a ghost. And I was alone, the Uchiha crest standing before me.