Unplanned

Sarada

13

The high-pitched, squealing chirp of a thousand birds fills the air, and Sarada focusses chakra into a single point in the palm of her right hand. Blue lightening gathers there, warming her skin to an almost uncomfortable heat.

As she pulls back to deliver the blow with that hand, her left fist sails into the ground, creating a shattering impact. The earth and stone loosens in a metre-wide radius. Before her eyes the earth disintegrates into sand at the concentrated nature of her attack, and the impact bubble sends her flying a few feet into the air.

"SHANNARO!" Sarada yells, bringing down her still singing right palm hard into the forest floor and shoving the gathered chakra through with all of her might.

There's a bright light, and she cries out, flying backwards.

When the sight returns to her eyes, Sarada scrambles to her feet to survey her handiwork.

The place where she once stood is now a circular area, slightly dipped in the ground, and made of shiny, glowing red glass.

Still not getting any bigger, she thinks in frustration. It would have a bigger circumference if she wasn't storing chakra right now. Usually she can make craters in the ground the size of her bedroom – an entire house, if she's really angry and wants to spend the next few days unconscious.

The jutsu is a work in progress. Once it's finished, all it will take is four hits in rapid succession, of four varying natures, and she'll be able to reduce entire battlefields to glass shards.

Not that she'll ever need to do that, of course. Lord Seventh and the other Kage have made the world she lives in is peaceful, and she intends to continue that legacy one day when she is Hokage.

But she knows that to keep the Leaf safe, enemies will have to think twice before trying to attack it. And she intends to be the reason for that.

"You don't need to be feared to be a strong shinobi," Lord Seventh told her a few weeks ago (or, well, one of his clones did, anyhow). He has been kind enough to give her and Mitsuki a few hours of his time a week to help them.

"It helps, though," Mitsuki smirked. "My parent is proof of that."

(Sarada still shudders at that revelation, because she remembers the way Orochimaru eyed her when they first met. And then, of course, it didn't help that Dad's old teammate Suigetsu had all kinds of stories of what used to go on in the underground bunkers. It really doesn't surprise her that her parents never talk about that time.)

"Uh... not the best example," Sarada pointed out nervously when Lord Seventh seemed to develop a bit of a twitch in his eye. Apparently he doesn't like to be reminded of it either.

"You don't need to be feared to be a good shinobi," the Hokage corrected himself. "But you do need to have enough tricks in your bag that enemies think twice before they go after you. If they get that no matter what, you're going to be the one landing the final blow? They won't bother challenging you, believe it!"

"So basically, stop the fight before it starts," Sarada suggested.

Her father's rival beamed. "Exactly."

Having the Hokage take an interest has been nice. Konohamaru-sensei has been pretty busy since getting married, so Lord Seventh (and his clones) have stepped up to help get them in shape for the next Chūnin Exam.

The team couldn't take part in the last one. Boruto is still on probation for cheating and has to wait one year from his indiscretion before he can try again. Sarada and Mitsuki agreed to wait and try it with him.