An Inch of Gold

Summary: Team 7 is sent on a mission to investigate a disturbance outside of the village, where they encounter an unconscious girl in a crater. The mysterious Sarada insists she's a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf trying to rescue her teammates, but something about her is suspicious. When the team discovers she possesses a Sharingan, things become even more unbelievable.

General Disclaimer: The stories herein utilise characters, situations and premises that are copyright Masashi Kishimoto, Shonen Jump, Shueisha, Studio Pierrot and Viz Media. No infringement on their respective copyrights pertaining to episodes, novelisations, comics or short stories is intended by KuriQuinn in any way, shape or form. These fan-oriented stories (and any fanart attached to them) are created solely for the author's own amusement and the entertainment of the fans. They are not for profit. Any resemblance to real organisations, institutions, products or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All plot and Originals Characters except for those introduced in the canon of the anime, books, manga, video games and novelisations, are the sole creations of KuriQuinn and reserved for her use unless given express permission by her.

Warning: Spoilers for pretty much everything up to Boruto: The Movie. Original Villains. Mentions of Original Characters

Canon-Compliance: This story takes place right after the Boruto movie and does its best to keep in canon with the show Boruto: Naruto Next Generations up to Episode 66. / This story takes place right after the Land of Tea Escort Mission (Naruto 102 to 106).

Cover Art: louquorice (check her out on tumblr or facebook!)

When she wakes, a bone crunching, joint burning agony radiates up from her right hand and arm through her entire body. Her pores sting and her scalp blisters as if ablaze.

Panic threatens to overtake the physical discomfort.

Why was she unconscious? Where is she? Where are Boruto and Mitsuki and Konohamaru-sensei? The last thing she remembers is—

Howling wind, stomach in knots, ground rushing up towards her faster and faster and—

Agony.

Sound filters back to her now, rendering the deafening silence she didn't notice earlier into a sudden cacophony of noise, and it helps her realise the second thing.

She's not alone.

Silhouettes loom over her, indistinct shapes and blurred colours: pink and orange and blue and white.

Enemies?

She needs to get back on her feet; she can't let strangers take her. The mission may be a failure, and she may have lost her teammates, but she will not let the enemy take her!

Sarada Uchiha will not disgrace Konoha or her family name.

But when she goes to move, she can't even make her fingers twitch.

One of her eyes has swollen shut and feels sticky as if it's covered in a liquid substance that hasn't dried yet. The other eye is blurry from tears, making the world around her impossible to interpret.

Her glasses are missing.

"… she's… sensei… waking…!"

Her hearing fades in and out of focus, but one thing resonates to the depths of her marrow: this voice she knows.

That alone fills her with hope and resolve, and she struggles to make out the faces looming above her.

"Mama… Papa…" The uncertainty of unconsciousness has her reverting to the most basic of names, the words that speak of safety. "… Uncle…?"

The distorted figures move closer now, leaning over and blocking the sun she didn't even realise was obscuring her view.

"… she delirious…?"

"… no doubt… a concussion…"

"… not a surprise… fall from that height…"

"Hey, look what I found!"

An exuberant shout fills the air, setting Sarada's teeth on edge.

Noise is evil. Noise is horrible, and she wishes a vicious death upon the moron that's yelling.

"… can't believe they survived…"

Gentle fingers mop the stickiness from her eyes—she winces as they prod a bruise by accident—and then senses something settled on the bridge of her nose.

Glasses.

Though cracked and bent, with one rim digging into her cheekbone, the familiar weight of them brings her slight comfort because her world makes sense again—at least in increments. Shapes coalesce into bodies and faces. Details emerge that she can now see without calling upon her Sharingan.

She blinks once, the movement uncomfortable, and then thrice more in quick succession to make sure what she's seeing is real.

Disbelief barrels into her with the force of an explosive tag.

She knows these faces.

But the last time she saw them arranged in this fashion, they gazed up at her from behind the glass pane of a photograph taken ten years before her birth.

Sarada Uchiha stares up at the youthful figures of her parents and two Hokage of Konoha. She's either unconscious, or she's dead.

Either way, her day has just gotten much more complicated.

つづく

Comments and constructive criticism are much appreciated, and very motivating! For more information about supporting my original, non-fandom related works, you're welcome to check out my tumblr (Typewriter Ninjutsu).

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