Faded scars:

The first time Sakura saw Naruto without his jacket on was when they were new genin, it was one of their first missions. They were pulling weeds and it was a very hot day. "It's way too hot to be doing this!" Naruto exclaimed and proceeded to take his jacket off. Sakura turned to him and meant to scold him until she saw his arms. She saw not recent yet not old scars going up his arms. The revelation of this shocked her. Of all the unpredictable things Naruto did, this was one that she especially didn't see coming.

"Uh, Naruto?" Sakura hesitated.

Naruto looked over to her almost nervously. But that look was just a flicker and Sakura played it off as a trick of the mind. "Yeah, Sakura-Chan?"

Sakura went back to her work. She mumbled, "Never mind."

Sakura pondered telling Kakashi Sensei what she saw but decided against it. She would tell him if it persisted. Which it didn't. Every time after when she saw Naruto without his jacket, she saw the scars fading and no new ones showing up. Sakura eventually let it go.

When Sasuke left, it was hard. Especially for team seven. As Sakura lay on her bed, just finished crying, her thoughts trailed to Naruto. For one reason or another, her thoughts trailed back to the time she saw those scars on Naruto's arms. Sakura's heart beat a little faster and she felt fear creep into her stomach. Though Naruto had tried not to show it, she knew he was hurting too. Sakura realized that if there was any time to pick up an old habit for Naruto, it would be now. Though it was late at night, she just couldn't shake the feeling until she knew. So she snuck out.

Sakura found herself feeling grateful that Naruto's apartment wasn't too far away from her house. After a quick run through Konoha, Sakura was at Naruto's front door. She knocked. Then again. Sakura felt the worry creep in again but the door opened and the light turned on before she was finished knocking a third time.

"Sakura-Chan." Naruto mumbled. He looked like he just woke up and Sakura realized he probably did. One of his hands was holding the door open and the other one was rubbing the sleep away from his eye. She saw both of his arms. Faded and slightly off color skin. Nothing new. Sakura felt the relief flood her. Out of all the bad things that have happened recently, at least this one thing was okay.

Sakura found tears rolling down her face, Naruto found he was no longer sleepy. He let Sakura inside and sat her in a chair at his kitchen table. Silence fell between the two of them as Naruto made tea for the both of them. Naruto knew there was nothing to be said because he knew why Sakura was crying. Sakura watched Naruto because she knew he didn't know the real reason she was over.

Naruto sat down too and handed Sakura one of the two cups. After the both of them finished, Naruto walked Sakura home. And that was that, they never spoke of it again.

Everyone was filled with determination when Naruto left to train with Jiraiya and was excited when he returned.

When they were on their way back to Konaha after saving Gaara, they took their precious time. That night Naruto fell asleep second (Kakashi fell asleep first since he was still recovering). He took off his jacket and bundled it into a pillow and lay sprawled out like usual. Neji was keeping watch at the moment so it was him, Lee, Tenten, Gai, and Sakura awake. Naruto mumbled something incoherent in his sleep and Sakura looked over at him, only to do a double take. Naruto's arms. They were covered with not recent yet not old scars. "You too?" Neji asked. He was facing the other way but he had his Byakugan activated.

Sakura nodded solemnly. "Since we were twelve."

Neji gave an absent minded nod. The rest were sitting in such a position that they weren't looking at Naruto so they had no idea what the two were talking about. "I suppose it's not a big problem, otherwise Kakashi sensei would have said something about it."

"I guess." Sakura replied, staring at the campfire in front of her.

Ever since they got back from the encounter with Sasuke, and the incident when Naruto hurt Sakura, Naruto had been avoiding Sakura. She knew he felt guilty for hurting her and felt frustrated for not being able to bring Sasuke back again, but Sakura was worried about Naruto and she wanted to make sure he was okay.

These were Sakura's thoughts as she sat in a chair, peeling an apple for Kakashi sensei who was still in the hospital. Kakashi looked up from his book and at Sakura. The brooding feeling radiating off of her was starting to get too much to ignore. "What's wrong?"

Sakura froze then relaxed. She stared at her hands. "It's just… I'm worried… About Naruto."

There were many things to worry about when it came to Naruto lately but Kakashi knew which one she was talking about. "You've seen it too." Kakashi closed his book and let out a sigh. "If I'm being honest, I'm worried about the same thing too. I noticed relatively new ones back when we were in Suna."

"I saw those too. So did Neji on our way back home. I thought he didn't do it anymore." Sakura voiced. "I remember the first time I saw them. We were doing some D-rank mission, pulling weeds. There were no more new ones after that so I just thought he didn't do it anymore."

"Perhaps he did stop. Something big must have happened to pull him back." Kakashi knew what had happened; Jiraiya told him, but he didn't tell that to Sakura. "When Naruto was first placed on my genin team with you and Sasuke, the Sandaime pulled me aside to explain it to me and asked to keep an extra careful eye on Naruto for it. He was delighted when I explained that Naruto had stopped."

'Sandaime.' Sakura thought. "Does Tsunade Sama know?"

Kakashi nodded. "Hai. She does. She read it in his file and pulled me into her office the moment she found out. She made a stern request to inform her if I find out if he ever does it again. I can't imagine how she reacted when Jiraiya told her he did it while they were away."

Sakura frowned. "Kakashi sensei, what if he tries to do something worse? What if he tries…" Sakura trailed off because she knew she wouldn't be able to finish that sentence.

"I don't think he will, he's too driven." Sakura didn't feel too reassured so Kakashi continued. "But on the off chance that he does try, if he survives, which is probably what will happen because of the kyuubi's healing factor, we will be there for him and," Kakashi smirked. "Tsunade would not let him out of her sight until she knew, two-hundred percent, that he would not try again."

Sakura nodded, letting a small smile grace her face because she knew it was true.

"Why don't you go see him? He may be avoiding you but you're not avoiding him, right?" Kakashi suggested.

"Right." Sakura nodded. "Thanks, Kakashi Sensei."

After leaving the hospital, Sakura stopped at Ichiraku's and bought two bowls of Ramen to go then made her way to Naruto's place. She let out a long, nervous sigh then knocked on his door. Immediately following she heard a fumble inside that sounded like it was trying to sound quiet. Sakura knocked again. "Naruto, let me in. I know you've been avoiding me but there's no need. I'm not mad at you, I know you didn't mean to." Sakura waited a full minute for a response but when none came, she spoke again. "Don't make me punch the door in because you know I will." Sakura heard reluctant footsteps on the other side of the door, "Please, Naruto, open up." And he did.

Sakura smiled triumphantly and held up the bag. "I brought Ichiraku."

Naruto's demeanor brightened at that and he let Sakura in. Sakura sat Naruto down in a chair at his kitchen table. Sakura sat down too and handed Naruto one of the two bowls. They both put their hands together, "Itadakimasu." They said together. Sakura noticed fresh scars on Naruto's arms. She decided to wait until they were finished eating.

This time around, Naruto took his time while eating his ramen and Sakura didn't know if it was because he knew it was going to be his only bowl or if because he was nervous of what she might say. But he did eventually finish, and so did Sakura.

Sakura put the throwaway bowls in the trash and sat back down across from Naruto. "Thanks for the ramen Sakura-Chan." Naruto smiled. He seemed off. Sakura noticed.

Sakura wasn't going to beat around the bush. "Hand me your arms. Let me heal them for you."

"That's fine, Sakura-Chan. They'll heal on their own." Naruto insisted. He looked around his house. "You should get going. I need to, uh, clean my room."

Sakura frowned for multiple reasons. "Why do you do this to yourself? You're obviously not ashamed, otherwise you'd do a better job at hiding it."

Naruto his head. "It's not something I wanna explain Sakura-Chan."

Sakura stared at him. For the first time, she saw the undeniable hurt in his eyes, yet he was still trying to hide it. "Fine. You don't have to tell me, but only if you let me heal them."

"Fine." Naruto relented.

Naruto held his arms out and Sakura placed her hands over them, healing them.

Sakura left after that and Naruto walked her to the door. She stopped in the doorway. "If I find out you do it again right after I leave, I will personally make sure you're under Tsunade's personal watch for a month. I care about you Naruto. You're friends care about you. Try talking to us if you ever feel like doing it again. We'll be there to listen. I promise."

Naruto put on a smile. "Thanks, Sakura-Chan."

Sakura left.

Naruto closed the door.