Sorry it took me so long to post this!! As you can tell, this is a long chapter. Really long. Since it was impossible for me to do it all in one sitting, I worked on it for a little too long and then got burnt out.
Anyways! I'm on break rn so I kinda had the chance to recover! So here's the new chapter!
. . .
"Either way, I have nothing to lose. Kill me." A fierce smile lit up Buntan's face.
Sarada remained frozen in the face of fear. Buntan was giving her an opening, and yet it seemed as though the blade was pointed at Sarada instead. In a sense, it was. Not a physical blade, but the invisible blade of Buntan's grudge that cut through her willpower.
"What's wrong, you can't follow through? Hahaha, how amusing. It looks like this was a better way of enacting revenge than gouging out your eyes after all!" Buntan's features distorted.
Her expression sent chills down Sarada's spine. On instinct, she leapt backwards.
And it was a good thing she did.
The lighting sword Kiba whirled through the air and sliced a shallow cut into Sarada's shoulder. If she hadn't moved, she might've died.
Buntan lay in a pool of her own blood, one sword hovering over her. Thunder crackled in between the two blades.
"I get it now, Uchiha. You've never killed someone before... Heh, and you're scared of doing it too."
"What are you..." Sarada grit her teeth. It was exactly as Buntan said. She'd been doing her best to hide it because it was something her opponent couldn't know in battle, or it would turn the tides against her. And Buntan seemed to have figured it out through her own experience.
"It's not possible. Killing doesn't look good on someone who preaches about peace, after all. Even though you're from the Uchiha clan! Ninja art: Lightning Armor!"
The swords above her sent lighting coursing through her body, combining with her chakra and providing her with a cloak of of electricity. Buntan should've been completely paralyzed, but she manipulated the lightning and forced her limbs into action.
"W-What are you doing? If you move around that much, you'll...!"
A scream of agony ripped from Buntan's mouth. But she ignored the pain and continued to attack. "Are you trying to warn me that my body will be completely burned up by my own lightning? How charming... But you know!!"
Buntan rushed towards Sarada and slammed into her with a fist covered in electricity. Sarada countered it again with lightning style. If she were to receive the attack normally, her body would be paralyzed by the electric shock, go rigid, and be rendered incapable of fighting.
"That kindness was what chased the bloody mist away! Even I know that much! Why did Uchiha Obito create the Akatsuki and start the Great Shinobi World War?"
"That's...?!"
That's right.
Even Sarada knew why the Akatsuki decided to start the war. It was started with the intention of world peace. The Akatsuki lost all faith in mankind. They tried to put humanity under a genjutsu in order to create an eternal tranquility, birthing peace that could never die out. They thought that an indefinite genjutsu was the only solution.
"You're all the same! All peace does is rot away at the soul."
"You're wrong! The seventh hokage and the Mizukage are both taking this seriously and thinking about the wellbeing of the people. They're not trying to ignore the feelings of everyone around them like the Akatsuki."
"That's the same thing to me!"
Buntan's words pierced through Sarada as though she was throwing up blood. At the same time, Sarada ensnared Buntan's attack with two kunai. Once again, they were caught in a stalemate of grappling forces. But unlike before, Sarada had to use two kunai, and Buntan was using her bare hands.
Sarada's kunai tore through the flesh on Buntan's fist. The flowing blood evaporated into the lighting that coated her body.
"No matter how much you try to deny it, the facts that my mother and father died, that Yagura-sama was misled by the Uchiha will not change. I won't stay quiet about this. If that doesn't sit right with you, then you'd better kill me."
Buntan purposefully lessened the power in her hands and allowed Sarada's kunai to dig further into her skin.
She hesitated.
"...What's wrong? Come at me seriously. If you don't, you're the one who'll end up dead!"
Sarada's dream floated up to the surface of her mind. She tried to take revenge against her mother's killer... And failed. The enemy took advantage of her in her weakness.
She recalled the words Chojuro spoke to her before coming to the memorial park.
"There are times that you must make the choice to kill. In those times, you mustn't hesitate. For that hesitation will cost you your life."
She needed to come to a firm decision, and if she couldn't, he told her to stick to providing backup.
Now, Sarada was facing what could be called her first real "enemy," and she was hesitating. She didn't have time to decide between "to kill" and "not to kill." She couldn't chose one over the other.
"The Uchiha are a clan destined for revenge. Show me what you're made of! Kill me and fall into the endless circle of grudges! If you can't, all that awaits you is death." As Buntan shouted, the duel swords attacked Sarada, but she was still locked in place by Buntan's current attack.
Sarada successfully freed herself, did a mid air summersault and jumped away. The thunder sword Kiba which was about to cut off Sarada's leg missed its target and instead whirled into the void.
"...Genjutsu?!"
It seemed as though the genjutsu she cast while they were glaring at each other worked. However, the effect of the genjutsu was small and wasn't enough to suppress Buntan's movements that wracked her body with pain. Perhaps the version of Sarada that Buntan saw was slightly distorted.
...What should I do? Sarada worried.
Buntan's bloodlust was the real deal. If something didn't change, there was only a sliver of hope that Sarada would live through this. What's more, Buntan was so intent on taking her life that she even put her own at risk, forcibly moving her body while it was coated in lightning. Even if Sarada managed to break her limbs, it wouldn't be enough to stop Buntan's movement.
Sarada remembered how Naruto's mere presence made the Uchiha Shin clones stop in submission. If it were the seventh, he could take away Buntan's will to fight or knock her unconscious with ease.
But for Sarada in her current state, both of those things were impossible. So what was she supposed to do? End Buntan's life?
Sarada knew that the quickest way to neutralize an opponent was to kill them. But even when forced into a situation like this where killing was her only option, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
She couldn't make the choice to kill Buntan. And yet she couldn't defeat Buntan unless she killed her.
"...In times like these, I'm jealous of you."
Sarada was thinking of Boruto while she continued to struggle against Buntan's onslaught. Boruto had no trouble deciding that he wasn't going to kill anyone right from the start, unlike her.
Sarada never assumed that she wouldn't be able to come to that decision when faced with a real "enemy." But now, she was facing that exact situation and coming to terms with what was in her heart. And she couldn't bring forth the answer from within her.
"If you're just going to stand there... Then I'll take matters into my own hands!"
Buntan summoned Kiba, which was attacking Sarada, over to herself. She sent it spinning violently above her own head. The two swords whirled faster and faster, emitting a bright lightening. And that very same lightning began to stir up the surrounding fog as well as the water in the canal.
"What are you...?"
"It seems like you can't bring yourself to kill me, so we'll end it like this."
Sarada raised her eyes to find out where the whirling fog and lightning were headed. Using her sharingan, she was able to see clouds forming in the sky through the opening that was created by their initial fall into this space.
"Clouds...? You can't be—"
"But I am! Ninja art: Fangs of Lightening!"
Lighting struck down on Buntan's swords like twin dragons from the sky into the underground cavern. The attack drew on more than just human chakra, bundling nature energy from the heavens as well as the earth.
"Thunder Flash!"
Just as Buntan finished the preparations for her jutsu, Sarada threw a large number of Fuma Shuriken imbued with lightning into the surrounding area. Thanks to the shuriken acting as a lightning rod, she was able to change the course of Buntan's attack!
She also threw a detonator tag into the water, causing a large explosion that spiked up a wall of water. Directly following that, a huge crack of thunder struck the ground of the underground cavern. Despite changing the direction of the strike, lightning struck the ground with unrivaled intensity.
The repeatedly unfurling wall of water spread out, surpassing even the lightning shield as the impact rocketed through Sarada's entire body.
"...!"
Sarada fell on the ground to her knees, unable to make a sound due to the severity of the pain. Even though she managed to shift the point of impact, it was nothing short of a miracle that she got away with this much damage.
Even still, her consciousness was wavering like a bobbing ship. A rainbow-colored light appeared and disappeared behind her eyes, and all she could hear was the sound of her own breathing.
"Heh... You're still with it, huh. You managed to prevent my trump card. But it seems like you're finally done for."
Buntan stretched out her hand towards the sky, likely trying to call down another lightning strike. The thunder sword swelled again, and lighting flashed up into the sky. As that was happening, Sarada looked over at Buntan with her sharingan.
"In the end, you weren't able to kill me. Do you have any last words?"
Sarada looked straight at Buntan and opened her mouth.
"There was something I once heard from someone long ago. 'A person's life doesn't come to an end when they die. It comes to an end when they lose their conviction.'"
"...?"
Sarada's words left Buntan in a state of bewilderment. She was suddenly having trouble understanding her.
"But now that I'm in this situation, I understand. I didn't have that conviction."
Sarada talked little by little to buy herself time. If she was speaking honestly, Sarada did, in fact, have conviction. But it wasn't conviction that could be shown on a place like this: on a battlefield. Right now, was talking about the conviction to kill or not to kill someone.
"I think Ninja have to make the choice to kill others for the sake of their missions. But like The Seventh and Boruto, I think there's also the conviction of the path not to kill, the belief and principle that you can fight your battles without death. But I couldn't choose between either."
To kill, not to kill.
Defining that conviction. Choosing one to be correct. She thought it was a bad thing that she couldn't decide.
"But... I came to an understanding after meeting you. There's one thing that's more important than conviction."
"What?" A suspicious voice leaked from Buntan's lips. It seems like she still didn't understand the meaning of Sarada's words. But she seemed to know that the conclusion Sarada came to was probably something unpleasant.
"The important thing is not to give up."
A strong will was reflected in Sarada's eyes who was hurt and seemed like she could pass out at any moment.
"At first, I thought you were someone who strongly held the conviction of killing. But that wasn't right. You've just given up. You stopped thinking of what it means to kill someone, you're just running around, wielding your power."
Through this battle, Sarada felt that she and Buntan were close in a sense. The fact that they couldn't see their fathers at a young age. Having power inherited from their fathers. And possibly... the feeling of isolation and solitude.
But that was also why, when Sarada looked at Buntan, she was finally able to understand.
I've made up my mind!
"That's why I've decided," she continued. "I've decided 'not to decide.' I'll keep thinking about what it means to kill someone. I won't stop thinking about it. That's my conviction!"
She resolutely declared. The path she should take. The determination to walk down an ever wandering path. In a sense, this path was more difficult than cutting through her doubts. Perhaps this would cause her even more suffering and confusion in the future.
But even still, compared to drawing an easy conclusion, deceiving herself, and giving up, Sarada was far more proud of her journey.
She recalled something she was made to hear by someone, something that Naruto the Seventh Hokage once said.
"'Wanting to know' isn't an easy path. It means walking along the edge of a steep cliff!"
Yes, to Sarada, coming to a hasty decision about whether to kill or not to kill was an easy path. Sarada hadn't cut off her hesitation or her frustration. She knew the real answer would come to her at the end of the growing pains down the road ahead.
With a pop, Buntan's expression was stained with anger.
"Don't prattle on, Uchihaaa!" She roared with hatred towards Sarada.
Buntan gave up on trying to change herself and those around her. Instead, she ran away on the path to become Shizuma's subordinate and wield his power just to contain her compulsive inner desires. To take it to extremes, Buntan didn't care if she died. She just didn't have a reason to die, so she lived.
If Shizuma killed her, she would have been fine with it. If she could kill Sarada or injure her, she didn't care if it meant throwing her life away.
"I'll kill you. I'll kill you! Pay for the sins of your family in the afterlife, Uchihaa!"
Above Buntan's head, the duel swords rotated violently. She seemed like she was trying to bring down another lightning strike. But in that moment, Buntan's strength drained away.
"My chakra control is...?!"
Ever since Buntan started this battle, she'd been fighting with the combination of her own lighting style and the lighting sword Kiba. The lighting armor, lighting fang, and manipulation of balls of lightning were all special ninjutsu that couldn't be used without the duel blades. Buntan thought Sarada would be able to copy her ninjutsu with her eyes if she used anything else.
In fact, she was able to continue fighting with the advantage in this battle because she was able to fight without using techniques that could be copied and subsequently canceled out by Sarada. Although, there were several mistakes she made due to her obsession with wanting to cause Sarada to suffer.
But there was another, bigger problem.
The thunder sword Kiba had been sealed away for a long time. Buntan wasn't used to handling it. Even though it was the sword wielded by her father, it wasn't like the seven ninja swords depended on someone with the same blood to be their wieldier.
As a result, she misjudged the amount of chakra she would need to continuously use the dangerous swords.
"Seems like you finally ran out..."
Sarada appeared to her "enemy" who misjudged her location.
"You! Did you use genjutsu to!"
"It was your mistake to let your guard down after I cast it once. Although, it was all I could do to disrupt your senses a little bit."
But that was plenty.
Now, Buntan lost control of the delicate chakra control she needed in order to use the sword. As a result, she was no longer able to activate the lighting strike ninjutsu.
"How dare you!"
In a fit of rage, Buntan took the handle of Kiba in her hand and leapt towards Sarada to cut her down! Even though she was injured, Buntan was a kenjutsu master. If she left well enough alone, she could have easily taken the life of Sarada who couldn't move.
But that was when Sarada confirmed her victory.
There were still thunderclouds created by Buntan in the sky, and her sharingan had copied the method for using the thunderbolt ninjutsu that had been performed in front of her, albeit with the use of lightning blade Kiba. She didn't know about this herself, but it had nearly the same principle and theory as a technique developed by her father, Sasuke.
In other words, Kirin**!
A flash of light enveloped the dark cavern.
A roaring sound shook the world, and a divine hammer of thunder pierced through Buntan.
99.9% of that power was dispersed through Buntan's thunder armor, but it was safe to say that the remaining .1 percent was enough to render Buntan unconscious. In fact, more damage was probably inflicted on Sarada for taking the backlash of the attack.
"I did it... But..." As she muttered the words, she collapsed. It seemed as though she didn't have the energy left to even lift a finger.
"Ku..... I can't afford to... Collapse in a place like this..." Sarada mutters and looks at her unmoving hands. It seems like it would take her quite a while to recover.
"...Boruto... Mizukage-sama..."
After muttering that, she lost consciousness.
She wouldn't come to open her eyes again until all of the fighting was over...
. . .
***Kirin is the name of the move created by Sasuke. It's named after a Chinese Mythical Creature that looks like a dragon. (Lol I just realized the info on the Wiki is wrong. I also thought it was giraffe, but after talking with my Translation Professor we both confirmed. That's not what it's based on).