33title: breaking it down
prompt: sarada meets katsuyu
disclaimer: naruto, not mine since 1999.
This was totally written at my company christmas party because I am that loser that sits in the corner writing fanfiction on her phone while everyone else drinks.
"Mama, Papa says you can summon slugs."
Sakura looks up from the chart she's working on, eyebrow raised. They're in her office at the hospital, Sarada doing homework and Sakura finishing up her paperwork.
"I can. How did that come up?"
Sarada shrugs, penciling in an answer on her homework. "We were riding Aoda on the way home from Suna and I asked him if you could summon snakes too. He said no, but that you had a slug."
Sakura's face goes a peculiar shade of red, and she growls her husband's name under her breath. "He took you…riding…on the snake…"
Sarada beams. "It was so cool, Mama! We were way up high, and I got to touch the clouds! And-"
She is so wrapped up in her exuberance that she doesn't notice the angry twitching of Sakura's eye.
"-ma?"
"Huh?" Sakura is startled out of her internal tirade that she's practicing for later.
"I said, how come you're stuck with a slug?" Sarada frowns, as though Sakura's animal summon is a disappointment to her.
Sakura sighs and steps away from her desk, coming over to sit on the small loveseat beside her daughter. She puts an arm around Sarada, pulling her in close and twirling the ends of her dark hair around her fingers.
"I'm not stuck with anything, sweetheart, except maybe this paperwork." She gently brushes aside Sarada's bangs and kisses her forehead. "Katsuyu-sama and I have a contract, just like she had a contract with my shishou before me."
Sarada makes a face. "But she's still a slug."
Sakura taps her on the forehead. "She's a very powerful slug, and no less cool than Aoda, no matter what your papa says."
The youngest Uchiha mulls this over for a moment. "But what does she do?"
The tired head medic reclines back against the cushions. "Katsuyu-sama helped me save a lot of lives during the war by splitting up her body so I could heal people through her. And she can spit acid." She can't help the smug smirk that creeps up on her face.
Sarada finally looks impressed. "Can I meet her?"
Sakura purses her lips. On the one hand, it's irresponsible to summon Katsuyu for anything less than dire need. On the other hand, Sasuke would have a one-up on her..
"Let's go."
"Woooow."
Sarada stares up at the giant slug in astonishment. It's less gross than she thought it would be, and is instead just…huge.
Katsuyu-sama is as big as, if not bigger than Aoda. At five years old, Sarada is barely a speck compared to the giant beast. Beside her, Sakura smirks at her daughter's awed reaction.
"Would you like to see what Katsuyu-sama can do?"
Suddenly shy in the slug's presence, Sarada nods.
Sakura grins to herself. "Katsuyu-sama, please divide yourself."
Sarada lets out a loud yelp as Katsuyu suddenly explodes into a shower of raining slugs, and she covers her head as she's pelted with a shower of small slimy creatures. She glares at Sakura, who is laughing beside her.
She kneels down and points at a recent cut on Sarada's leg. "Watch this."
Sarada stays very still as one of the tiny slugs crawls up her leg to sit on her cut. She watches apprehensively as her mother forms a few hand seals, and the slug begins to glow with her green healing chakra. Apprehension turns to surprise and then wonder.
"So this is how you healed people during the war?"
"Mhm." Sakura nods. "All of the smaller slugs attached to people fighting for our side, and thanks to Katsuyu-sama I was able to keep them all healed."
Sarada's eyes sparkle with delight. "I bet Aoda can't do that, can he?"
Sakura grins wickedly. "No. No he can't."
As the cut fades away, Sarada inspects the newly healed pink skin. "You and Papa should fight! See whose summon is stronger!"
"Eh heh heh. I don't think that would be very fair to your father."
Sarada glances at her mama curiously. "But Papa's really strong."
Mama looks back at her with some amusement. "That's true. But a woman's got to be strong to survive in this world, you know. And I can take him."
The young kunoichi smiles, dimples showing. She wants to be just like her mama some day.