To The Future

A Quest For Truth

Sarada was on a mission. She was going to find out whatever it was the adults were hiding.

It had been a few days since Mama and Uncle Naruto had started acting strangely. It started a few days after the Uzumaki's had returned from their trip to Kirigakure no Sato and Himawari couldn't stop talking about her mysterious savior called Uchiha Itachi, which was ridiculous because Mama had told Sarada that their family was the last of the Uchiha clan. Asking about him didn't lead to any answers but poorly made excuses.

A few weeks later Papa had returned to Konoha and Sarada had finally met her father for the first time in her life. He claimed that they had met before but she didn't remember that. He had also been very shifty about the issue of the mysterious 'Uchiha Itachi'.

So Sarada turned to the only source that had never let her down -books. The only problem was that the history of the Uchiha clan had been classified by the Rokudaime Hokage- Hatake Kakashi. She would need to get a pass from someone above the rank of chunnin to access those records.

That was why she was going to the Hokage's office with homemade onigiri for Uncle Naruto. Sarada admired the Nanadaime Hokage and wanted to be like him someday, but even she could admit that he was a bit gullible. He was a best chance of getting that pass to the classified section.

"Nanadaime-sama." Sarada greeted him, entering the office after Shikamaru-san passed her on, indicating that the Hokage wasn't unavailable.

"Sarada-chan." He replied cheerfully. "How many time have I asked you to not call be that?"

"You're in your office. It's only proper." She chided gently.

"All right, all right. Let's not argue about that. What can I do for you?" He asked smiling brightly.

Sarada blushed. "We'll, first of all I made this onigiri for you to snack on if you get hungry. Secondly, could you give me a pass to the classified section of the library for my school project." She rushed on, handing him the bento.

"Ah, thank you for the onigiri, Sarada-chan. I'm sure they'll be delicious. I was getting a bit hungry." Uncle Naruto patted her on the head. "About that pass though, I'm sure your school project wouldn't require any information from the classified section. It's classified for a reason, ya know. I'm sure Shino will tell you where to look for if you're stuck."

Sarada felt her hopes fall. "Please, Nanadaime-sama. I promise I wouldn't put anything from there into my report. I just need to look into it to understand some things." She pleaded.

"What did you wanted to look for?" He asked.

"The history of the Uchiha clan." Sarada mumbled.

"Ah. I see." The Hokage wore a contemplative expression. "Anything specific?"

"I wanted to know about Uchiha Itachi. Himawari told me you met him on your trip to Kiri."

"I should have told Himawari to keep quiet about that." He sighed, rubbing his hand on his forehead, as if warding off a headache.

Sarada felt rage bubble in her gut. "Why? Why should she have kept quiet about it? Why don't I have the right know about the clan I was born into. First, Mama used to be all cagey about what happened to make us the last of the clan, then Pap comes home after so many years and doesn't even think that I need to know about my clan than everyone in Konoha knows. Hell, in sure most of them know more about it than I do. Why can't you all just tell me things?" She shouted, and then immediately clammed up realising where and at whine she was taking her anger out on.

Naruto-sama wore a neutral expression, as he looked at her, not reacting in the slightest. Sarada was afraid that he was disappointed in her.

A few minutes passed in silence.

"All right. I think I've given Sasuke enough time to tell you. If he doesn't wish to do it, then perhaps someone else should." The Hokage spoke calmly.

"Really? You will tell me?" Sarada asked, bouncing up and down in excitement.

Naruto-sama chuckled. "Not me, Sarada-chan. Come on, we are going to the hospital."

Sarada could only follow.