Black birds tore one by one from Itachi's cloak and soared into the red sky. Sarada felt like she was losing balance and falling. She strained her vision. Tried to examine the illusory world her uncle had created more closely, find inconsistencies, peer behind it.
"Who killed Shisui?" a low male voice said, both alien and familiar.
Her eyes ached more and more, but Sarada stubbornly tried to break free of the illusion. A sharp flash of pain pierced her eyeballs. The red sky cracked. Cracks spread into the gray street, crows tearing from the cloak slipped into those black fissures and merged with them. Fresh evening wind hit her face, carrying the pipe's hum—so rich and low-frequency it made her teeth ache.
All the horror the genjutsu induced vanished. The man standing before Sarada looked far from demonic as in the illusion—rather a bit pitiful. The lines slashing his cheeks from the bridge of his nose had grown longer and deeper. Strands of hair falling over the forehead protector with the crossed-out Leaf symbol looked unkempt. A renegade's lifestyle hardly allowed for meticulous grooming.
"Not bad. Better already," Uncle praised.
As if he too remembered that meeting in the arcade years ago, when they hadn't known each other. Back then, Sarada hadn't recognized his genjutsu.
In reality, Uncle looked far from as pompous and terrifying as in the illusion, but he still exuded deadly danger. Sarada felt completely in his power. He had always controlled everything. Itachi was impossible to beat even in training, when he held back completely. How strong had he become now?
She was afraid to breathe. The lightness on her shoulders after escaping genjutsu gradually evaporated. Itachi's presence pressed down and revived the panic the illusion was meant to induce.
"I'm repeating. Who killed Shisui?"
How does he know? And… what business is it of his…
"Root."
"Who exactly? Names."
"I d-don't know names. He was poisoned… insects…"
Itachi wasn't trying to kill her. Not yet. Sarada felt her cheek twitch nervously. It was strange talking to him after everything.
"What did he tell you? Shisui…"
"Everything," Sarada barely whispered.
"And what will you do?"
The present assembled like a mosaic from past moments: the arcade meeting, the talk with Shisui after the second time wave…
"What are you going to do, girl?"
They asked her this every time she was out of sorts. Shisui asked when she woke in the hospital six years after the Uchiha tragedy. Nanadaime asked in the future, when Sarada stood before the screen with genetic analysis results, convinced her mom wasn't her mom.
Emptiness in her chest, cold, fear. Apparently, these emotional shifts were obvious from outside and caused concern. Shisui and Naruto cautiously asked what she planned next, as if fearing she'd cause trouble. Both pressed her, made her talk it out, brought her to her senses, and gave her new direction.
Itachi used the same words, but unlike Shisui and the Seventh, he brought not life but death, and this familiar question stemmed from other motives, not care.
"I'll destroy Root," Sarada forced out dully.
Damn it, why did she blurt the truth? She couldn't lie convincingly. Sarada herself didn't fully believe she could pull it off, but the power awakened after Shisui's death gave hope she just might.
Otherwise, Dad and I die. No one left to protect us.
Itachi didn't laugh.
"Really?" he asked with genuine curiosity. "Can you destroy Root yourself?"
Curiosity? Strange that anything human remains in you… Uncle.
The last mental "Uncle" absorbed so much venom that the word fully changed meaning. Uncle—from now on not a close relative, father's brother, but a wolf in sheep's clothing. Murderer who inspired trust and betrayed.
"What do you want?" Sarada snapped viciously. "After what you did… Why did you come back?"
Itachi tilted his head slightly. Strands of hair swayed.
"Don't tell Sasuke."
Sarada stared at him in bewilderment.
"Sasuke mustn't know who killed Shisui. Or that I've returned to the village. Understand?"
She nodded quickly. Did she have a choice? When your family's killer stands centimeters away expecting affirmation, arguing is stupid. Easier to give the answer he wants and hope it saves your life.
Itachi accepted the response. He closed his eyes and dissolved into a flock of crows. They scattered around the area.
Sarada, holding her breath, stared at the empty street before her.
Alive.
She dashed into the entrance, flew up the stairs to her floor, and burst into the apartment. Dark hallway. Dark living room. Kitchen seemed lifeless too.
Not this. Gods, did he not make it home?! After all this time?
Her training with Sasuke felt like a thousand years ago in another universe.
Sarada burst into her father's room. Dark. Made bed, things in place. Konoha lights through wide windows. No one.
Damn!
For some reason, she peeked into Shisui's room. The bedspread on the wide bed was slightly rumpled. On the bedside table stood that very bowl they used for compresses, and the medicine jar.
No one needs this anymore.
And the room… It belonged to no one now, but didn't yet know its owner wouldn't return.
Sarada sniffled and felt hot tears burn her aching eyes. She flinched at the sound of flushing behind her and returned to the living room. The toilet door opened, revealing sullen Sasuke.
"You're here?!" Sarada blurted.
Sasuke grimaced irritably, but glancing at her face, his eyes widened in shock. Sarada imagined how she looked. Blood on cheeks. Knees shaking, body trembling. Bruise on shoulder—probably from passing out in the pit.
"What happened to you?"
"Shisui is dead."
"What?"
Sasuke stepped back toward the toilet.
"Get dressed. We're leaving."
"Damn, what are you talking about?" He scowled.
He didn't believe?
Hard to believe, Dad. I can hardly believe it myself.
"Quickly. Pack," Sarada hissed.
"You're crazy!" Sasuke dug in. "What the… Where to?"
Sharingan activated instantly. Sasuke didn't even react, didn't expect it. Sarada clenched her fist and punched him full force in the face. Grabbed his throat before he recovered, pinned him to the wall.
"You…" Her voice rasped from the sprint. "You'll do what I say. Or we die. Both!"
Her fingers tightened on Sasuke's throat. Horror dawned in his eyes. He was gradually seeing the light.
"It's true? Shisui…"
"Yes."
Sarada released her hand and wiped tears.
"Who?" Sasuke demanded harshly.
"Get dressed! Later!"
Sasuke touched his bruised cheek cautiously and obeyed. Sarada hadn't expected convincing him would be so easy. Maybe the face punch made him compliant, or her state—appearance, trembling raspy voice, activated Sharingan—spoke for itself that this wasn't nonsense or lies.
They ran out onto the street. Staying home was suicide. Shisui dead, Third gone. Nanadaime and Mom just genin, like her and Sasuke. The only one who could protect them and whom Sarada still somewhat trusted was Kakashi-sensei.
They crossed the street and ran toward their mentor's district.
Please be home.
On the way to Rokudaime, Sarada kept scanning surroundings with Sharingan. She didn't know how it would help. She saw crowds of people. Root could hide anywhere, tailing them disguised as civilians. And the bugs. Don't miss the bugs. Damn insects had induced paranoia in Sarada. She imagined bugs everywhere, even where none were. Felt something crawling on her skin, but it was sweat drops or just autosuggestion.
"Who killed him?" Sasuke wouldn't let up.
Sarada bit her lower lip until it bled. She couldn't lie, and Shisui forbade the truth.
"He mustn't know the village is involved. It'll destroy both Konoha and your father…"
The familiar voice in her head drove her mad. Revived every moment from the cliff hours ago, then the empty room, rumpled bedspread naively awaiting its owner's return.
Damn, Dad. I always dreamed we'd be allies, but… damn.
"Tell him it was Itachi. He's going to avenge him anyway…" Shisui's faint voice whispered.
I can't tell him that, Shisui-san. Because it wasn't Itachi. Itachi's a monster, but that's no reason to pin others' sins on him. Everyone answers for their own.
Sarada realized with surprise that meeting her uncle had changed something in her. She no longer feared him as hysterically as before.
Why? Just because he spared my life?
In the distance loomed a wide multi-story building with symmetrical balconies and windows. Red house, red lights… Damn Sharingan wouldn't deactivate, though Sarada knew it was useless now. On the top floor center hung a cloth with the Hidden Leaf symbol, fluttering slightly in the wind, folding. Sarada peered into random lit windows, trying to figure which was sensei's apartment, to see if he was home.
They entered the building and climbed to the floor. By some miracle, Sarada remembered where Rokudaime lived. Among identical doors, she found the right one, jammed the doorbell, and pounded with her fist.
The lock clicked almost immediately. The door opened, and Sarada nearly fell into Kakashi-sensei's arms by momentum. He was half-dressed, in a tight tank top merging into his face mask, and regular pants.
"Sarada?" Rokudaime muttered stunned. "Sasuke?!"
"Help, sensei! Shisui-san is dead. And we… we're next… They're after us too…"
Sasuke shoved her in the back. The Sixth stepped aside, and they were in his hallway. Sarada turned to her father and was surprised to see his Sharingan activated too. Sasuke was angry and terrified.
Kakashi-sensei slammed the door, braced his right hand against it, and said a bit nervously:
"Again."
Sarada tried to repeat but couldn't utter a sound. Tears choked her.
"Someone killed Shisui," Sasuke answered for her. "And Sarada insists they're coming for us."
"Uchiha Shisui—dead?" Kakashi asked incredulously. "Impossible."
She felt weak. The hallway swayed and drifted sideways. Kakashi-sensei steadied Sarada by the shoulders.
"Deactivate Sharingan. It'll drain all your strength."
"I can't…" Sarada whimpered. "Won't work."
She woke in a dark room and panicked, thrashing to figure out where she was. Palms felt soft bedding. Eyes adjusted to darkness. Sarada saw a wide windowsill. On it, against the unshuttered window—a ficus and alarm clock. Completely unfamiliar place.
Kakashi-sensei… Right, we came to him. They didn't kill me? Poison me? No time displacement?
Sarada listened carefully to her body. Looked at her hands in the gloom. No numbness or time paralysis like after a wave. Just passed out?
And Dad?
She stood and nearly collapsed from weakness. Grabbed the chair back by the empty desk. Stood steadying herself, waited out dizziness, then headed confidently to the door.
Sarada entered the familiar short corridor and peeked through the next door, from which bright yellow light poured. At the kitchen table sat Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke. Sensei had dressed. Sasuke laced fingers, elbows on table, hands before him, staring at empty space. Both silent. Clock ticked deafeningly.
"What's going on?" Sarada asked.
Kakashi-sensei turned to her.
"Nothing."
At least we're still alive. That's something.
"I sent Pakkun to the residence. Teams are already searching… for Shisui."
Sharp pain pierced her heart.
"You better?" Kakashi-sensei asked.
"Me?"
Sarada sank onto the free stool.
No. Worse. Unconscious, you don't feel pain, don't think. Just dark and good. Now it starts over.
"Got it."
He seemed to read her mind.
Near Kakashi-sensei, Sarada felt a bit calmer.
Always seeking someone to rely on. First Itachi, then Shisui-san, now Kakashi-sensei. But how's it for them? Those everyone depends on. Such responsibility…
But Sarada felt too weak and inexperienced to lead others, be responsible for lives entrusted to her.
And I wanted to be Hokage?
She found her old dreams amusing, but the memories pressed on the fresh wound.
"…you have a chance to be the first Uchiha Hokage…"
And truly, no one else. Uncle's a renegade. Sasuke will be incredibly strong if he survives, but he'll be Shadow Kage. The real Nanadaime will be Nanadaime.
Sarada shook her head.
That is, Naruto.
In her mind, Uzumaki Naruto and Nanadaime Hokage were synonymous.
Only I remain. Even if I don't want to now. But truly, only I among all Uchiha. And I can't even take responsibility for myself.
"Will you tell what happened?" Kakashi-sensei asked.
Thoughts jumbled.
These questions again. Have to lie again, and I can't. Say it was Itachi, but danger from Root. How protect us if they don't know from whom?
Moreover, recovering from shock, Sarada wasn't fully sure they'd protect them at all. She knew she couldn't handle it alone, but Shisui's words stuck. She couldn't believe their sensei wished them dead—just for being heirs of a cursed clan—so she came for help. But now wondered: what if he did?
Who friend? Who foe?
No real friends. Only temporary allies. Like Itachi once. Like Shisui-san recently. Like her and Dad now.
But enemies aplenty. Impossible to tell which polite people secretly dreamed of destroying her and Dad. Sarada couldn't read minds.
"How did you know Shisui was dead? Killed… in front of you?" Kakashi-sensei pressed.
Seems he really wants to help.
But she couldn't dump the full truth on him, even bypassing Sasuke. Looking into sensei's cold serious eyes now, she realized she didn't fully trust him.
Should we have come here?
She suddenly wanted to vanish. Dissolve into space forever. No worries, no hunting enemies among yesterday's compatriots. Or just leave this village to hell.
For a moment, the world beyond the fortress wall seemed full of freedom and fresh air, while Hidden Leaf Village—what she'd always called home—was a stagnant swamp, a trap.
Not a new feeling. She'd felt similar before academy graduation, searching for Dad, thinking everyone lied her whole life. Then too, she'd felt infinitely alone. Desire to shatter the shell of lies hiding the real world was so strong she'd have sought that photo girl unafraid. But Nanadaime stopped her.
No one to stop now. And Nanadaime seems fully disappointed in me. He doesn't need me either.
"Sarada?" Kakashi-sensei called.
She flinched and surfaced from thoughts back to the kitchen. Mentor asked a question and waited patiently.
If she told truth, other details might surface. Shisui's second eye, Drosha. How she escaped Root Anbu.
What if known? What if they're hunting her to judge for murders, officially now? Recall that other killing Shisui covered up. God knows how, but now no one to cover her back.
Maybe that's why Anbu left her alone? Wanted to frame, now just arrest?
Sarada shook her head and whispered:
"He told me himself."
"Who?"
If you can't lie, mix lie into truth. Convince yourself, convince others. Sarada took deep breath and blurted:
"Itachi."
Nothing happened. Sasuke unsurprised, not enraged. Kakashi-sensei remarkably calm.
Don't get it… They don't believe?
"I told you it was him," Sasuke said coldly.
Sensei just nodded.
"But how did you…" Sarada faltered. "I didn't tell you…"
Sasuke clenched his fingers tighter into a lock.
"It's a couple of hours before you came back. Shisui dropped by the house. A bird flew onto our balcony. At first I didn't get it. I thought it was Shisui's crow, even though I felt like I was missing something somewhere. I'd seen it a very long time ago... But then I remembered."
"What did you remember?" Sarada lisped in a hollow voice.
"That it's Itachi's messenger."
"But they're all the same. How did you know it was specifically his?" Sarada persisted.
Sasuke looked at her with contempt and snorted.
"You summon crows and think they're all the same?"
"No, I don't think so," Sarada flushed. "But you don't summon them. How could you tell it was Itachi's messenger?"
"It bites," Sasuke replied angrily. "It bit me when I was a kid, that's why I remembered."
Sarada stared blankly at the empty windowsill. For some reason, Grandfather's garden appeared before her eyes, the fence with the Uchiha crests. The terrace where they sat with Itachi. His genjutsu lessons...
Did he create his crow in genjutsu?
Kakashi narrowed his eyes.
"Where did you see it?"
"On the street," Sarada answered honestly. "I was heading home, and it caught me in genjutsu."
"Tried to kill you?"
"No..."
"Then what did it want?"
Kakashi's questions led to a dead end. It was like he knew exactly where to dig.
"I don't know!" Sarada snapped viciously.
I can't tell them he asked who killed Shisui-san. Then it'll be clear it wasn't him.
She buried her fingers in her hair.
"I don't know. I don't understand anything..."
Kakashi-sensei sighed and left her alone.
The clock ticked steadily as before. Sasuke and Rokudaime were silent.
Sarada lowered her forehead onto her crossed arms and dozed off unnoticed. She had nightmares. Bugs crawled into the kitchen from all the cracks. They climbed up her long socks and tickled the bare skin above her knees. They climbed up the table leg, crawled behind the high collar of Sasuke's t-shirt. Several times Sarada thought she felt a tiny bite, and in that instant her heart sank to her heels, and her back broke out in cold sweat.
Sarada tried to move her hand, but it was numb. Her leg too. Her whole body was numb. She could no longer move from the spot, could no longer shout to these two to wake up and notice the insects. Sasuke seemed not to feel that the bugs had already blazed a confident trail on his back, and Kakashi-sensei was looking straight at him and also seemed not to notice.
Sarada was choking on a silent scream and despair. It was all real.
Rokudaime threw her out of the kitchen, and she found herself in some gloomy forest. She saw a face with Shisui's features in front of her. He tore out his own eye and lifted the eyelid, exposing the bloody horror in the socket. On his blood-smeared palm lay an eyeball that stared off to the side. Not a Sharingan, just a normal eye with a blue iris.
Why blue? Shisui has black eyes. Blue ones belong to...
Someone scratched loudly behind her.
Sarada decided it was ANBU coming to arrest her and woke up in terror.
She was still sitting at the dining table, but the kitchen was empty. It was a bit lighter outside the window.
She tried to move her right hand. It didn't respond. Sarada touched it. Her fingers felt soft warm skin, but the right hand felt no touch. Sarada panicked. She forcibly bent it several times, helping with her left, and tingling appeared on the skin.
Just numb.
An involuntary sigh of relief escaped her chest. Sarada stared at the bare tabletop, but the vision of the blue eye on the bloodied palm still lingered in her imagination.
The lock clicked in the hallway. Sarada stood up, clutching her numb hand, and peeked into the corridor.
Kakashi-sensei opened the door, and Pakkun slipped into the apartment. So that's who was scratching.
"I assume there are news?"
"Yes," Pakkun replied.
Sasuke came out of the bedroom. The dog sat down and shifted his doubtful gaze from Sarada to Sasuke and back. Kakashi-sensei leaned his back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Spit it out already."
Pakkun sighed.
"Shisui's body was found in the Naka River about an hour and a half ago."
Sarada glanced at Sasuke. He had gone terribly pale.
So he still didn't fully believe it?
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan