He's alive

Anyone who recognizes this Sharingan without reading ahead wins the game.

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Itachi narrowed his eyes when two shadows slipped by his hiding spot. Their chakras were familiar, but the one who was trailing a little behind was the most familiar. He leaned forward on the tree, trying to hear a conversation, but the two ninja were moving silently, not conversing at all.

That wasn't what was strange, though. They were shinobi. Shinobi were supposed to travel silently. What was strange was that when he recognised the chakras, they were both supposed to be dead.

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When Sarada felt someone shaking her, she popped up and looked around, blinking rapidly.

"Where am I?" She asked, then noticed the man in the orange mask tilting his head at her. "Wait.... I know... Who are you?"

"I'm TOBI! Tobi is supposed to take care of Sarada-chan!" The man behind the strange mask said cheerfully.

"Huh?" Sarada's eyes widened. This man was talking like a six year old. His voice had a whiny tone to it. But he looked like he was a grown man. "Wha--"

"Sarada-chan, do you want to play cards with me?" Tobi, as the man had introduced himself, seemed to grin at her. She couldn't tell with the mask on.

Sarada looked at the hole in the mask he had for an eye. The eye was dark colored and sparkly. Sometimes she thought she saw it glint red, but she assumed it was a trick of the admittedly not good light. "Um, sure."

Tobi pulled up a chair, laughing. It wasn't a creepy laugh, it was a cute laugh. It reminded her of a six year old, and it seemed to want her to laugh with it. Sarada couldn't help being suspicious of the guy. He was too adorable to be a villian. Why was he here?

They used a spare chair as a table because Sarada was tied to her chair. In the days to come, somehow, Tobi always managed to entertain her. Sarada finally came to the conclusion that she didn't hate this man. He was one of the only members of the Akatsuki that was even remotely friendly. No one had tried to hurt her yet, but she suspected she wasn't going to get out of this situation unscathed, and she was mentally preparing herself for pain.

Kisame wasn't completely friendly, but he didn't outright try to hurt her feelings. So she guessed he was okay. Deidara was a bit of a goofball, like Tobi, but he had kidnapped Sarada, so Sarada tried her best to avoid him. He had mouths on his hands. Yeah, she was justified. So far, she hadn't met the 'Leader-sama' they were all talking about, but she suspected from the stories she knew who it was.

Zetsu was just weird. His dark side threatened to eat her, while his white side scolded him harshly. He genuinely freaked her out. She hoped she wouldn't see much more of him.

Konan was okay. She had a quiet friendliness that Sarada could live with. She was definitely not as bad as the rest of them. Somehow, a sweet girl like this had ended up with villins. Sarada had taken to calling her just Konan, whereas she called everyone else Akatsuki-san. She did suspect that Konan was very dangerous in her own, quiet way. But so far, Sarada hadn't seen much of that.

Sarada was alone again. Deidara came in to call Tobi for a mission.

"Bye bye, Sarada-chan!" Tobi pouted dejectedly. "Tobi will come back to play soon!"

With that, he waved and shut the door. But it was still open a crack, and Sarada heard what Deidara was saying to Tobi.

"She hasn't opened up to you yet?" Deidara scowled at his teammate.

Tobi groaned. "We've been through this. She's an Uchiha. Her father has probably trained her to not give away information."

Sarada frowned. Tobi didn't seem to be 6-year-oldish anymore. It was an act? A really good one, too. She was almost convinced he was just a big softie.

"Is it time?" Deidara asked him. Another thing-- Deidara wasn't treating him as if he was an idiot. Normally that would be how Tobi got treated, now it sounded as if he was the boss.

"It's time." Tobi affirmed. "Is he ready?"

"He is." Deidara seemed to be nodding from the way his voice wavered. "Don't you think it's a little bit cruel to use him against his own kin?" Maybe he wasn't nodding...

"No." Tobi snarled. "Are you getting soft now, Deidara?"

"No-no, of course not, un." Deidara stammered. "I just think--"

"Well, no one asked you." Tobi replied harshly, causing Sarada to wince. She would feel bad for Deidei-san if he hadn't been the one to kidnap her. "Now, go get him. Time to get information. Finally."

Shît. Sarada thought. Time to get tortured. Mama, Papa, Itachi-jii... where are you???

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Sasuke paced around impatiently. They were all holed up in a valley in the woods, directly behind the hideout they assumed Sarada was in. They were strategizing, trying to find a way to get in there without dying or getting Sarada killed. "We need to attack. Now."

"Sasuke, we can't just go in like that." Itachi spat, eyes flashing. "They could kill her when they see us coming!"

"Well we can't just leave her there!" Sasuke scowled at Itachi.

"I want her back too, Sasuke, but we have to think this through." Itachi said to his obviously desperate little brother.

Sasuke shut his mouth and winced, sinking to the floor and leaning against the wall. "You're right. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"That's called affection." Itachi sighed. "I'm used to it, you aren't."

Sasuke couldn't think enough to process what his brother had just insinuated without getting extremely pissed off. Like Itachi could talk about affection after being cold to him through their entire childhood.

Naruto was quiet. Which was not only rare, but not like him. It made Itachi worried. He's seen that look-- He's worn it for years. "Naruto."

Naruto looked up at Itachi, and the elder Uchiha noticed how sad the young Uzumaki looked. "I'm sorry, Sasuke." He blurted, completely out of the blue.

The genuine contriteness in Naruto's voice sounded weird. He was completely serious. Sasuke looked up at his old friend. "Why? It wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, it actually was." Naruto winced. He lowered his head. "I forgot to lock the window before I left the room last night."

Sakura's head shot up. Kakashi looked at him. Sasuke looked away. Itachi had to suppress a laugh.

"I looked right at that window and wondered if I should close it." Naruto scowled at himself. "I thought Boruto and Sarada could use the fresh air. I just left it open. It's my fault. I'm sorry."

Sasuke blinked, then turned his head.

"Sarada is probably getting tortured right now because of me." Naruto looked at Sakura. "All because I'm so stupid. I guess you were right, Sakura, I am dense. I'm sorry for losing your daughter. It's okay if you don't want to forgive me, or trust me with her again. I won't blame you."

Sasuke groaned, a desperate look climbing onto his face. "Naruto," His voice rose. "Who do you think opened that window?"

"Um.... I don't know, 'ttebayo." Naruto shrugged. "Shisui?"

"I did." Sasuke's wince disappeared. Everyone blinked at him. "We have to get her back."

"We will," Itachi nodded reassuringly. "I swear on my life, I will get her back for you and Sakura."

Sakura's face molded into one of relief. "Itachi-san, you don't have to say that."

"I swear I will." Itachi continued. "And Naruto-san will help me, right, Naruto?"

"I swear it. And I keep my promises. That's my--"

"Ninja way." Boruto jumped down from the wall, seeming to be fully recovered. "We know. Now shut up and help me bring my teammate back."

"Boruto-kun?!" A confused Sakura asked, seeing Hinata coming from behind her son.

"Oh, hey Sakura-baa-san. Anyway, I can't believe you guys lost her. And here you were supposed to be the most powerful people in the Shinobi world." Boruto continued, stopping briefly to wave at his aunt.

"Not like you could do better protecting her." Sasuke bit his lip to contain violent swearing.

Boruto raised an eyebrow. "Sarada is like my cousin. I've been taking care of her since we were toddlers. Plus, she's my teammate. How did she look to you when we got here?"

Sasuke shut up.

Itachi smirked. "My, Sasuke, what would Kaa-san say? She definitely didn't teach you to be an irresponsible parent."

Sasuke glared violently at his brother.

"Remind me why I haven't killed you yet?" He spat finally.

"'Cause you can't." Itachi's smirk only grew.

"I'll have you know, Itachi--"

"Ladies, ladies, now's not the time." Kakashi interrupted, standing up. "I have an idea."

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"Sarada Uchiha." Sarada's head lifted and she looked around for the owner of the creepy voice.

A man stepped out of the shadows, clothed in darkness, but Sarada could see the faint marks on his cloak, red clouds. He had what looked like an ANBU mask resting on his head, making his face slightly visible. His onyx eyes sparkled, with a joy that was unlike with anything she's ever seen. He didn't look evil, and he didn't look dangerous, but Sarada knew better. She wasn't about to fall for that trick again, especially not after what she'd heard about Tobi.

"ANBU mask with an Akatsuki cloak? That's one unlikely pair." She didn't look at the man directly. Instead her eyes wandered his body, assessing his likelihood to be a threat.

"Yes," the man purred. "Say, do you know who I am, Sarada Uchiha?"

Sarada stared hard at him. Aside from the strangely genuine smile on his face, he did seem familiar. Almost as if she would know him if she remembered hard enough.

She examined his features closely and expertly. Grandma Tsunade had taught her that features can help assess family. Family can assess Kekkei Genkai. Kekkei Genkai can assess threat level.

He certainly looked familiar, and he had the familiar Uchiha features. She couldn't see a crest, and she certainly couldn't see a headband, so she couldn't tell for sure. There was no sign of a Kekkei Genkai either... possibly Sharingan, but she could only know for sure if he activated it.

"You're an Uchiha," she guessed. "I don't know who, though."

"Good. Good." The man's smile widened. "Your father trained you well."

"You know who my dad is?" Sarada frowned, looking closer at the man. Think, Sarada, you should know who this is.

"Of course. I was his brother's best friend. I saw quite a lot of him." The man smiled. It was no smirk. No evil glint in his eyes. No creepy grin. He seemed... normal... And normal was a welcome sight compared to all the evil she'd seen in the past days.

Is this guy really Akatsuki? Uchiha... Uchiha... who do you remember Papa telling you stories about? Besides his family?

"Uchiha... Madara?" She went with a guess. This man didn't look like the Madara she'd seen in Valley of the End, but he could've changed his appearance.

"Good guess, but no."

"Uchiha Obito?"

"Noooooo," His voice got on a sing-song tone.

"Uchiha Izuna?"

"Wow, you went really far back for that. Madara's brother? Dang." The man smiled.

That smile looks familiar.... "Uchiha Shisui."

The man froze. "Okay, wow, Sasuke-chan remembers me after all. Good job, little Uchiha Princess."

Sarada wanted to smile when he said that. Itachi and Sasuke could say it and it could make her smile, and if Shisui could too, she counted him as an uncle. Well, if he wasn't evil, anyway.

"How are you alive? You're supposed to be dead."

He sighed and closed his eyes, a smile crossing his face. "Yes. I've heard that more than once. The truth is, I've only been alive for two days. My objective, the reason I've been reincarnated," he took a deep breath, "is to torture you for information."

Sarada's eyes widened.

"I'm sorry, Sarada-chan, I have no choice. I'm being forced to do this, my own body is being used against me." Shisui winced, closing his eyes again. When he opened them again, his eyes were blood red.

"Shisui's sharingan. The Uchiha's most powerful genjutsu user. Shisui's visual prowess, is unique. It creates a powerful genjutsu that allows you to control someone without them even realizing it." That was what Nanadaime-sama had said to Sarada when they were learning about Sharingan. Her father had added in some useful things about the Sharingan, being one of the only users left in the Shinobi world.

Sarada had never realized how much she appreciated those lessons until now.

Papa, Mama, everyone... wherever you are... if I don't make it back, I love you.