Been thinking about this one for awhile. Shorter than I would have liked it to be. Maybe I'll try to make it longer...
Visible Stories
Every stress leaves an indelible scar, and the organism pays for its survival after a stressful situation by becoming a little older. ~ Leonard Cohen
Naruto had no scars.
Most ninja his age were scattered with a myriad of lines and etchings, across their faces and necks and chests and fists and legs and... anywhere one could be injured.
Iruka-sensei had a long scar across his nose that had a story behind it, though Naruto had never been told it. That was the thing about scars, they told the stories of a ninja's life. They each had a story of survival attached. They each had meaning.
On the back of his hand a raised jagged line from his first mission out of the village. An oath sworn with his own blood.
The scary interrogator from the Chunnin exams had a story to go with the terrifying patchwork of scars that was the top of his head, the reason he wore a bandana and was unable to grow hair. They were a testament to the hardships he had suffered, the life he had lived.
Across his torso, arms, and legs are ragged lines from an epic battle with a boy who was just like him. A look through a distorted mirror at what he would have become, if not for his precious people.
But Naruto had none of these.
Rather, he only had the stories.
On his chest a strange puckered scar, where a lightning spiked fist had jabbed through him, trying to strike his heart. A betrayal by his best friend.
He stoked the smooth, unmarred surface of his chest as he stared blankly at the stars. Smooth fingers over smooth chest. He didn't have any calluses either. Rock Lee had thick calluses that created a tough hide to protect his hands and feet from the powerful blows he delivered. Sakura sanded down her own calluses for aesthetic purposes but her skin was still tough.
His knuckles are covered with rough calluses from many fights. Those won and those lost.
Naruto's skin was soft, like a new-born's. Each battle broke the skin over again. Each battle was like his first except for the experience he had under his belt.
Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh. ~ Carol Burnett
And that was just it.
It was like none of those moments had ever happened. The stories were muted, distant, as though they happened to someone else. As though he wasn't actually a player in his own life.
He clutched his hands tightly and watched dispassionately as blood pooled in his palms. He opened them and wiped the blood away from unbroken skin.
Naruto had no scars.
But he very much wished he did.
There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with and remembered. ~ Harry Crews