"I did not get to Bo in this one...Sowee. Just trust me, we'll get there.

INDOMITABLE

Part 3: On a Scale of One to Ten, Twenty

"Dad?"

Leaning against the stone wall behind her, was her father.

"But I thought you were away," she stammered, terrified. She'd just broken down, right in front of him!

Her father smiled softly. A smile that was subtle, but was major big for him. Very rarely did he smile or show much expression. "I was, but today was an important day for you."

She was speechless. Finally, she settled for giving a happy "Thanks."

_-xXx-_

They ended up going to an expensive restaurant for dinner. It had a very traditional yet regal look to it and she felt underdressed. He, on the other hand, seemed at home, even when he was only wearing his mission gear which was mostly covered by a dark cloak.

Sasuke motioned her to a corner booth and tossed said cloak there.

"My father used to take us here sometimes," he commented, not even picking up the menu after he had sat down. "Me, him, Mother and Itachi."

"I see," she said, looking down. This...was odd. Her father was taking her out to eat. He had never done that before. There had been no real reason for that other than the fact the occasion had never risen. He was always away, or even when he was home, he was still made busy, whether it be by assisting the Hokage or Ibiki or the Anbu or just training Boruto. She almost frowned at the latter thought. Boruto got to see her father more than she did. It was a bit—

"Did something happen?" Sasuke asked.

Oh yeah. Earlier. Sarada shrugged. "I just, I failed to get information out of this thief. I mean I should have been able to, so it's frustrating, I mean Ibiki was counting on me and all I was able to do was make the guy...make him pee himself."

She smiled bitterly. Sarada Uchiha. Conjurer of urine. She could just see the headlines now.

Some leader she would turn out to be.

"Information?" There was a pause. "Sarada..." Sasuke leaned forward, his voice filled with concern, clearing her thoughts. Why had his demeanor changed so much? It was as if them using her to obtain information was just plain sad.

"You advanced your sharingan? That's unfortunate."

"Why would you say that?" she asked, fingers tightening unconsciously around a glass of water that had just been set down for her.

"Because the sharingan takes a tragedy to evolve."

Sarada's jaw about nearly dropped. "What?"

"It awakens after the trauma of someone close to the user dying, so again, has something happened?"

Are you alright? he seemed to be trying to say.

Her heart actually warmed at his concern, but...

She blushed. "Um, well, that actually explains a lot. It was a, um...No one died, Dad, but...They almost did. We were on a mission and Bo kind of rushed ahead, thinking he could do things on his own, the idiot, I mean he's always doing crap like that! And, um..."

Man, her face was feeling hot, her blood rushing, and her father didn't even have to look at it because he then spoke, raising an eyebrow, "Bo?"

Ah, crap. She was usually on guard for things like this but for some reason just seeing her dad after so long had knocked her down a bit.

She laughed nervously. "Um, Boruto, I mean, and anyway, it kinda turned into a hostage situation and then things were exploding and it was so horrible, I thought he had been killed. I was so terrified. So I began digging through the rubble, trying to find him, and next thing I knew, my eyes were burning, but I had thought it was from the smoke and heat. It was only some time later that I realized my Sharingan could do a little...more. And only by accident.*"

Sasuke nodded. "So..." Now he seemed, what was it, oddly perplexed? embarrassed or surprised.

"I see. It was Boruto."

It awakens after the trauma of someone close to the user dying.

Sarada's eyes widened. There was no use beating around the bush now. He definitely knew they were a little more than mere squad mates now. "Yes...And dad, we've kind of been seeing each other since."

He nodded. "That actually explains a lot."

"What do you mean?"

"He chatters a lot when he's nervous. And ever since I came back, he hasn't shut up. His babbles have been endless and distracting."

Sarada chuckled. "Sounds right."

"A little too much so." His voice became quieter. "Sarada, the...extent of your relationship..." He seemed to be struggling for the right words now. Uncomfortably at that. The wrapper from his straw had long been wadded up into a tiny paper ball and he was rolling it between his thumb and pointer. "On a scale of one to ten, one being it's just a fleeting fling, and ten...mature—"

"Fifteen."

He blinked.

"Maybe twenty," she rushed out. "It's the real deal."

"I see...That really explains it then." Sasuke was frozen stiff.

Too much information, but his curiosity was no doubt permanently sated.

Sarada shrugged. "Neither of us is ashamed but we try to be mature in town so there's no worry of trouble, whether from any press or just the higher ups in the village either. We know the value of privacy."

Way too much at this point, she knew, for her father but he needed to know if he was going to continue working with Boruto. Right now he was teaching him kenjutsu, if she remembered correctly.

"Are you fine with that?" she asked off hand, glancing at the menu. His approval meant nothing, he had lost that right, but it was good to know he had least bore some approval to the nature of things the way there were now.

She could almost picture Boruto now, meeting up with her dad, unable to update him that their relationship had shifted since they last saw each other. Nervous, because, if he didn't approve her father had the capacity to make his life a literal hell.

"If he just gets his head unclouded, yes."

"Well, I guess it's because he's afraid you wouldn't approve. Because if you didn't, well, there's a lot you could do to him."

Now Sasuke smiled. "On the contrary, of all the kids in the village, I mind him the least. And yes, if he ever hurt you, he knows exactly what I could do to him and his father wouldn't have a say in the matter."

Sarada laughed but soon Sasuke's own sobered. "Sarada, I know having an advance sharingan from here on is going to be exciting, it's potential seeming limitless for unraveling your goals, but you can't be using that Sharingan lightly."

Sensing the air shift, Sarada tensed. "Why?"

"Because you could go blind."

She nearly spit out her drink.

"What?!"

"That's a danger with evolving and using the Sharingan too much. It begins to ebb at your sight. In the past, Uchiha would have transplants to permanently stop the process. This required taking the sharingan from those closest to them, oftentimes from their own siblings. I myself had my brother's transplanted, both for medical reasons and my past goals. But you don't have that option so I'm telling you now, be weary and never overdo it."

"Dad! Why hasn't anyone told me this before, I mean, how much more is there about it that I don't even know!"

Now she was angry. She could go blind? BLIND?!

Sasuke looked down grimly. "I should have told you this and everything else I could about it sooner...Yet another failure."

"Dad...Look, it's all right. I just need to know these things now. So please, don't leave again before teaching me everything else about the Sharingan, because having to wear glasses is bad enough. Being blind, I don't think I could even live that way. So I really don't want to accidentally screw up."

She couldn't even imagine living without sight. And knowing she could have screwed up already made it only worse. Just what all was there that she didn't know? Up until now her knowledge of her own eyes was limited to little nuggets of information from Kakashi who she rarely saw and maybe Boruto's parents. Hinata helped her to focus, to activate and deactivate her ocular powers, while Naruto had tried giving her tips from memory. And they were usually awful and insufficient, although she always told him otherwise.

When it came down to it, she needed another sharingan user to help her, and her father was the only real solution.

Sasuke nodded, an almost sad look coming into his eyes. "I owe you that much, so I promise you now, I won't leave until you have properly mastered your sharingan. We'll begin tonight, and it will help you with your work as well because while advancing it too much can be dangerous, working with it properly can be the biggest assist to the village and yourself."

Sarada nodded, trying to hide her bliss. Was her father going to start teaching her personally? It seemed almost like a dream come true. Only "almost" because while her father was pretty advance, he was also a heck of an awkward person to be around at times. At least for her. For others like Naruto and Boruto, he had a small sprite of humor and looseness that he didn't otherwise show.

Her happiness deflated as Sasuke began speaking again, after a few sips of his drink. "Sarada, you've just grown so much. I'm foolish enough to not have expected it so. You know, when you were a toddler still, and I began on my missions again, I wanted you to grow in a loving setting, free from all the strife that came with being an Uchiha from my generation. And you did, but that came at an unforgivable price: neglect."

She glanced down. The paper wad between his fingers now was a perfect sphere. Hard as a rock.

"And I regret it, but at the same time, you've come this far on your own and with love from your own family and friends. You achieved easily what my Uchiha pride wouldn't let me. I'm proud, you became you, and forged your way close to the Hokage and even the force. I could not have taken you to that place but I want to be home more for you more from now on, even if really it's too late."

"It's not too late."

It was.

Yes, she loved him, but nothing he did now could take away the years she had grown up with just her mom. Feeling like she was a single mom. And seeing her mom cling on to a man she herself had never seen for so long. It hurt, and while he had tried mending it, and she was grateful to have him, he had still screwed up.

"Be honest."

"Alright, part of me hated you."

He sighed. "Understandable."

She stirred the ice around in her drink a bit before letting the straw go.

"And dad...I didn't exactly work my way into the force that much. It was the Hokage. He wanted the village and Uchiha to work together in it, maybe in attempt to right the wrongs of the past—"

"He would do something like that."

"—and so now I'm not actually training to be Ibiki's partner, I'm training to take over."

Now it was Sasuke's turn to nearly spit his drink out. He blinked a couple of times, his thoughts practically visibly whirling, his brow furrowed.

"You mean..."

"I'm going to run the force when he retires. No one else but Ibiki and the Hokage knows this. They're not sure how everyone else will react to the news, so I volunteered to not announce it until I had gotten more comfortable with the Force and its workers. Then I'd drop the bomb."

"A Uchiha hasn't run it since..."

"Your father. I know, the Hokage told me."

Sasuke almost smiled, his thought going back to so long ago.

"It's a wise move," he commented. "Waiting. It is a position that could easily be abused and has been. Ibiki's been good for it, though, a solid head, and his men equally so although they also happen to be rooted deeply in that time period. And because of that, his men will be wary of you. Nothing will change that, so don't let that discourage you. Just keep doing good and all that matters is what Ibiki feels is satisfactory. It's just the way things are."

"I understand that, Dad. Just got to suck it up and all that."

He smiled. "True, and soon they should see you for who you are and that is the exact opposite of my father."

His own father must have neglected him a bit, through his work and the attention he gave his older brother. Then there were the secret meetings...

But all of that was in the past, astoundingly so.

Sasuke's smile broadened. "To think, an Uchiha in the Force. Though our views were drastically different, I think your grandparents would be very proud."

She smiled in return. "Hey Dad, can you tell me about your mom or brother?"

He nodded and the afternoon became evening as she was absorbed into her family history.

She understood now why there was prejudice towards her becoming the head of the Intelligence Division or resistance at the very least. Her father himself had been imprisoned there once, but she wasn't going to become another Uchiha like them. No, she wanted to be like her uncle, to fulfill his dreams. Because after the Force, the mantle of Hokage waited for her. And she would get there without fail. And Boruto was going to be right beside her. Yes, she wasn't and couldn't let anything get in her way.

_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_

Author's Note

*When Sarada briefly goes over the mission in which her sharingan evolved, it is from another fic I wrote, a prequel perhaps, called It's the Fear. Where that happens and where they later officially hook up can be found in the third chapter, appropriately titled "attraction" if ya wanna read it. Which I would if you read this, because I'm going to assume you have. If you haven't, the bare bones were at least laid out. If not, here's the rest: mission went bad, she got ticked, he addressed the fact she was way more ticked than the rest of the team was, pointed that out, said it might because there was more there, and he was right. Then proceeded to hook up on the train and as I put it then "There were no more words, just motion, rushing them on as they kissed. Maybe there should have been. Maybe they were being young and reckless. But neither cared."

And they've been at it since, but now are a tad older and are going on their paths which you'll see next update since I got Sasuke out of the way.

And yes, this was super short, I know, but it's a trend with this fic, might as well keep it up. And jeebers, have I had lots of work lately, my two jobs, and I'm practically a veteran at both now! Feels odd.

Then inspo, it is so, sooooo low. I'm talking why do I even keep writing kind of low. I have all these ideas, or scenes rather, in my head but writing is becoming completely lost to me.

Anyway, Oh, I'm so sorry this is short, time will pass with summaries a tad in the next. Boruto will have the next scene as the first was Ibiki and crew, then we just had Sasuke, Bo's next.

And as for her answer? On a scale of one to ten and she answered fifteen?

They super close, waste no time, and stuff like that. But there will be no smut, alas, that is for you to come up with. There might be references sprinkled here and there. And it'll be obvious that they're known to take advantages of, er, bathroom stalls by their classmates. I'm taking a bit of inspo for them from Lilly and Marshall in How I Met Your Mother, 'cept Bo's lots more mature than Marshall.

How old are they?

I was working on this depressing end of the world, they all die, kind of one-shot a while ago ('Til Death Do Us Part (Basically Team Seven's last mission)) and in it I had to wrestle around with my headcanon and in the author's note (those are written way in advance like a lot of other future scenes are) I pointed out the time periods for my next gen fics and this one was one of the ones listed. It was written "(eighteen to be safe because I know that unlike the state I live in, the Age of Consent is usually that)"

Meaning I had written them a pinch younger than eighteen until it crossed my mind that a lot of people live in places other than my lame state.

They's close, they respect each other, have fun, that's all I think, but I don't want to write them as adults, that's the problem. They're still finding their places. So maybe young at heart eighteen-year-olds. Still at their parents' places though, so...

SEVENTEEN. There. I will compromise to that.

Sarada and Boruto are seventeen years old in this fic.

:P

Finally, my profile has been updated, my Progress Status to be precise, and you'll find new stories just waiting for me to be high on inspo...and a BIG surprise for an already written but unposted story that you can fine elsewhere...

This is my way of saying please find and read it before it's complete and gets posted on this site...