Archive of Our Own ^beta

Six years old. Her daughter, while in the Hokage's library for some research—he didn't know for what, she hasn't shared—had accidentally opened a scroll that activated a jutsu that turned her into her six year old self. Body and personality, it seems, although her memories are intact. She just couldn't help but react the way a six year old would.

Both Sasuke and Sakura have been very worried—Sakura moreso, having encountered a dangerous forbidden jutsu a few years back that regresses a person's body until they were just a toddler, then a baby, a fetus, and then no more (if they even survived being a fetus outside of a womb for long).

But after doing a quick diagnostics on their daughter, his wife has confirmed that currently, their daughter's body is stable, and is simply stuck in this age.

With the danger of Sarada just fading, the husband and wife (and Sarada herself) were relieved, so now Sakura went to the library, with Shikamaru and Tsunade in tow, to try to look for the counter jutsu, or any jutsu that could help.

And Sasuke was assigned to look after Sarada in the meantime. Which they didn't word as such, twelve year old Sarada would have been insulted, and six year old Sarada might just start a tantrum. They just phrased it as if both of them should just wait at home and observe Sarada for any changes.

It's been thirty minutes since Sakura left, and ever since then, Sasuke hasn't stopped looking at Sarada (though he was trying not to be too obvious).

It was a bit of bad luck to Sarada herself, but somehow Sasuke was internally considering this accident a blessing.

Seeing Sarada when she was six years old, here in front of him—not from photos, or secondhand from Sakura's memories. She was six, and he's personally experiencing it.

He hasn't had the chance to do so, before. So excluding any real danger to Sarada in the whole situation, Sasuke was actually quite happy with what happened.

Although, again, he wouldn't voice it out.

After a while, Sarada got bored, and she invited Sasuke to watch a movie.

He was a little amused when she chose to watch cartoons—something he never saw his twelve year old do, ever since he came back. Her six year old body and personality must prefer the show. But again, he kept quiet.

He was busy watching everything she does and engraving it in his memories.

He watched her every reaction, her mannerisms that he doesn't observe in her twelve year old form and never knew had been former mannerisms of her; her food preference (she really does hate tomatoes ever since), the way she eats, her voice, the way she talks, the way she rationalize things, even the way she calls him.

It was a different way of saying, "Papa." It was somehow more... affectionate, like her voice and how she calls him reflects how she still needed to depend on him.

It was fascinating and rewarding but also bittersweet. He would never have known this is how she would have called him had he been always present in her life if the accident didn't happen. He would never have known this version of her daughter.

After a few more hours, Sakura came back with another scroll that according to her has been thoroughly studied by probably the smartest people in the village, and so they are sure it would be safe.

It was a simple enough reversal jutsu, but to be safe, Sakura wanted Sasuke out of the way less he transforms into something, too.

Before he went, he took one last look at her six years old daughter, commiting it to memory, and then without anymore further ado, had exited the room.

When he next saw her daughter, she was back to normal, and happy.

He was happy for her, too, although to be perfectly honest, he was missing the six years old a little, too.

Again, he wouldn't say it outloud.

But then again, maybe his wife and daughter just knew him so well. Because after another quick assessment of Sarada by Sakura (just to make sure nothing went wrong), her daughter had faced him and announced,

"Well, since Hokage-sama gave me the rest of the day to—well, rest, we can just do a little throwback right now." She said cheerfully.

"Throwback?" Sakura asks her.

"Hm-mm." Sarada nodded, smiling.

Then she did the dog-boar-ram handsign—transformation jutsu, there was a poof of smoke, and Sasuke was again looking at a young version of her daughter.

Younger than six, this time. She looked similar to how she looked like before he left.

"Oh, I see." Sakura said and then did the transformation jutsu as well.

She looked younger now, too, with longer hair—also the way she looked when he first left.

"Let's start from this age. Then we can go through each year, okay, Papa?" Sarada said in her tiny, childish voice.

And if Sasuke was any other man, he might have cried. Her wife and daughter was doing this so he can experience being with who they were in those years he hasn't been around.

But since he is Uchiha Sasuke, he just smiled and nodded.

He did the hand signs as well, and transformed to his younger self—the same timeframe, when he left the village for his mission. Better make this an experience for the whole family, not just him.

He should have known better, though. He forgot about how his wife can sometimes get overwhelmed. (He didn't understand why exactly, she wasn't like that when they traveled together.)

"Mama! You can't faint just because you saw Papa's younger self! What's wrong with you??"

Sasuke could have laughed, seeing her four year old daughter trying to scold her mother.

END