[Naruto AU, fluff, angst]

Sarada Uchiha stepped through the doorway and into the kitchen. She was normally the first one awake, and for some reason, her papa was never around in the mornings. She set out two bowls and started preparing her breakfast until she heard footsteps down the hallway, and just as she suspected, she recognized the bright, red hair.

"Good morning."

The woman rubbed her eyes then set her red glasses back into placers Sarada greeted her, "good morning, Mom."

Karin Uzumaki walked up to Sarada and gave her a hug, "what's for breakfast this morning?"

"Eggs, if we're lucky." Sarada rolled her eyes.

"I thought Papa went to the store last night?"

"I mean, he was out all night, but by the looks of the fridge, it doesn't look like he went to the store." Sarada inspected the empty refrigerator, "where was he last night? Did he ever come back? Shanaroo..."

"He's..." Karin pursed her lips and crossed her arms, "he's probably out training. You know him."

"Well..." Sarada sat back down, "maybe. I don't know him as well as you do."

"Hm..." Karin set her chin in the palm of her hand, "well, let's just say he's hard to read at times, that's coming from me."

"But you're his wife. Shouldn't you know everything about him?"

Karin pursed her lips and ignored her question, "listen, your Papa has had his ups and downs. I know how you feel, but please don't make things hard on him. He's been through things you couldn't imagine, and seeing your smiling face makes us both feel so much better. Please keep that in mind, okay?"

Sarada sighed, "I'm going out."

"Okay." Karin smiled as she gave Sarada a final pat on the back, "do a good job out there today."

"Sure will! I'm you daughter, aren't I?" Sarada stuck her tongue out playfully before running out.

"Heh." Karin smiled sadly, "you're definitely your father's daughter..."

_____________________

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Sarada chuckled weakly, "I'm sorry, Lord Seventh, I don't really see the need to learn Boruto's Jutsu... That's his thing."

"Haha! Of course, I knew that." Naruto Uzumaki laughed, "I'm just looking to see how much chakra you have. If you want to be my student, I need to get to know you, shouldn't I?"

"Hm." Sarada smirked, "but how will Shadow clones...?"

"Creating Shadow Clones takes more technique than you might think. It requires the equal distribution of chakra to every part of the clones' bodies. This isn't only a matter of measuring chakra, but also a matter of testing your chakra control."

"My mom has the ability to give chakra to anyone." Sarada shrugged, "probably the greatest chakra ability anyone around here could have. Chakra control shouldn't be a problem for me."

Naruto blinked a few times at the over-confident Kunoichi and chuckled sheepishly, "I suppose you're right, huh? Your mama is the most talented with chakra control, isn't she?" He watched her movements as she experimented with charging chakra into her fist then sending a burst into the ground, "I think we should call it a day."

"What?" Sarada looked at him, "is something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing." Naruto smiled, "I just think you should go find your Papa and tell him to meet with me sometime. We need to have a little meeting, you see."

"Oh..." Sarada shrugged, "I guess so..." She slowly headed away from the training field she found herself at with her Sensei.

"You see these three posts? They kind of remind me of when I was younger and with my Genin team. We were the greatest team you could ever know."

"So." Sarada coughed, cutting Naruto off of his rambling, "who were your teammates?"

Naruto smiled down at her as he pulled out a small, pocket-sized photo, "Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno."

"Sakura..." Sarada tilted her head and inspected the team photo, "she's the one I heard about around the village, but I don't think I've ever seen her. She's only been around as some sort of legend, right?"

"Well." Naruto looked away, "she's a legend, alright. When she got mad, she'd give us hell if we ever did anything to make her feel even worse. She was scary."

"S-seventh..." Sarada stared at him, "you're crying..."

Naruto brought his hand up to his face, and sure enough, he was. He laughed and wiped his eyed quickly, "ah, I'm just sweating through my eyes. No big deal. C'mon, let's go get something to eat. I'll bring you to my favorite place!"

She remembered that moment, and ever since then, she's been researching everything she could about the legend, Sakura Haruno from that photo. To her disappointment, she couldn't find anything. She still couldn't figure out why the Hokage had reacted the way he did when he talked about her. For now, she could only deduct that as his teammate, maybe he loved and missed her?

After training with him, she decided she was going to ask the other piece of their Genin squad.

"Papa?"

Sasuke Uchiha turned to his daughter, "hey, Sarada."

"I have a question for you." Sarada looked him, then her eyes strayed to the blonde boy behind him, trying to bend shuriken, "I didn't know you trained Boruto at this time of day. It's noon, shouldn't you be coming back home so mom can make you lunch?"

"I'm fine." Sasuke glanced back at Boruto, "he insists that we keep going. He's pretty persistent, just like his father."

"Heh." Sarada chuckled, "so I wanted to know if you know anything about any legends? Like, did you know any legends?"

Sasuke nodded, "your Uncle Itachi, the one I always told you about."

"Yeah, yeah. Besides him. Like, a girl... Maybe?"

He tilted his head at her, "a legend meaning someone who's died, correct?"

"Yes, that's what it means."

After a few seconds, Sasuke shook his head, "I don't know of any."

Sarada pulled out the small photo she received from Naruto and showed it to her dad, "then who's the girl in this photo? Isn't she Sakura Haruno, the legend?"

Suddenly, once Sasuke's eyes fell on the photo, he went pale and looked as if he'd been punched in the gut, "where... Where did you get this?"

"Hm? From Lord Seventh."

"This..." Sasuke's voice trembled, "please don't ask about this ever again. Please." He turned back to the young Uzumaki, "Boruto, we're done. Go home."

"What?!" Boruto dropped his shuriken, "hey! We're not done yet!"

"Yes, we are. No questions." Sasuke glared at the boy, then suddenly vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"Sarada, what's the big idea?!" Boruto walked up to her, "why'd you send my sensei away?! We were training!"

"Sorry, but..." Sarada glanced down at the photo, "this is important. If I want to get stronger, I need to find this woman."

Boruto peeked over her shoulder at the picture, "that's our dads' team, right? My dad gave you that, didn't he?"

"Yeah." She looked at him, "do you know anything about Sakura Haruno?"

"Hm... Hey, yeah, I've heard that name before. I heard my parents talking about someone named Sakura when they're alone. I don't know if it's the same Sakura you're looking for..."

"When?"

"Just last night, I think." Boruto scratched his head, "actually, it happens a lot... Hang on, why am I helping you with this, you drove my sensei away! I'm outta here."

"Thank you, Boruto!" Sarada grinned. Maybe... I'll go see his mom, next. If Lord Seventh can't tell me, then maybe she can. If all else fails, Mom has to know. 

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Written by xX_Fang_Xx