Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. I am just a fan.

Chapter 2: Fire Burn…

A week later, Sakura found herself on the training ground again, doing laps with her teammates. Of course instead of regular laps, their designated track was loaded with traps prepared by their teacher. The man was a complete sadist. Sakura pulled her head back to barely dodge a tripwire kunai.

"Kakashi-sensei! Aren't these traps a little dangerous?" she cried. The knife had just barely missed her bright pink locks and embedded itself in a nearby tree trunk. If he wrecks my hair I'll smash his face in, raged Inner Sakura.

"Don't worry Sakura, the kunai have been dulled," responded their teacher, not even looking up from his book. "A little bit anyway. Besides, think of it as a motivator to stay aware of your surroundings and test your reflexes."

Some motivator, she grumbled inwardly, spotting another tripwire and running around it.

Sasuke, in the lead of the three, managed to avoid the volley of shuriken that came his way with a quick leap backwards. Sakura took a moment to admire his graceful movements before she tried picking up speed to get next to him.

"Sasuke?" she said in between huffs, "Would you want to go out somewhere with me after training?"

The Uchiha boy didn't even look at her. He simply turned up his nose and pulled away. Sakura resisted the urge to hang her head. Another attempt, and another failure.

Up ahead, Sasuke went around a tripwire connected to an explosive tag. Seeing him, Sakura spotted the wire and did the same. At least they were remembering where the traps were, and since Kakashi wasn't setting anymore, this was all going rather swimmingly in Sakura's opinion.

"Hey guys, wait for me!"

She looked back to see her other teammate, trailing behind both of them. Reflexively, her right thumb rubbed the inside of her palm, still remembering what the blonde had done on her birthday. At first she thought she'd washed off the oil in time. But hours later, after she'd gotten home, she'd discovered a red rash all over her hands. Instead of eating cake when she was supposed to, she'd spent part of her birthday getting both hands treated with medication and buying a pair of leather gloves with a soft inner lining to wear in order to prevent scratching. She'd just been able to stop wearing them yesterday.

For that entire interim, she'd stayed away from Naruto, too angry to want to deal with him. And he'd had enough intelligence to stay away from her. Sakura supposed she had herself to blame. After all, she'd given him the invitation to get her a gift. Clearly he took it as a chance to prank her. What kind of moron did that on someone's birthday?

And it had to have been a prank. If Naruto had put the thing in a pot, he'd have gotten a rash, especially if he didn't know what it was. Unless he was immune, but most people weren't. So therefore, he'd probably bought it. But who would sell a little boy poison ivy?

It was odd though that Naruto was so far behind the two of them, she realized as she drew herself back to the present. She knew he was fast. Normally when they did laps like this, minus the traps, he was either ahead of her or even with her, talking her ear off.

In fact, in addition to not talking to her, Naruto had been particularly quiet this morning, not even bothering to argue with Sasuke. She saw how he was desperately trying to catch up to them, but his attempts to accelerate only came in short bursts before he seemed to wince and slow down again.

She turned her attention back to the road ahead, pushing those thoughts out of her mind. At least he's not bothering me, growled Inner Sakura.

Behind her, Naruto tried accelerating again, wanting to catch up to his pink-haired teammate. But as he leapt forward, his foot caught on the tripwire the other two genin had so easily avoided. What followed was a loud boom that propelled Naruto into a stumble before he crashed into Sakura. The two of them were sent rolling before finally landing in a tangled mass of limbs.

It took Sakura several seconds to get her bearings, the world still spinning around her. As her vision cleared, she saw an orange arm draped over her stomach. "Naruto..." growled the kunoichi through gritted teeth. Pushing the arm off, she forced herself from the heap before clocking him on the head. The boy let out a groan. "Why don't you watch where you're going?! Didn't you see that tripwire? It wasn't hard to miss. You are so pathetic!"

The boy didn't respond. He just sat there nursing the lump on his head. "Are you listening to me?" She reached out and grabbed his right ear before tugging it.

"OW! Sakura let go! LET GO!"

His sharp scream surprised the girl enough to make her release her grip. The boy just sat there, holding his ears tightly. "I'm sorry Sakura," Naruto said softly. "Please stop yelling. You're too loud."

Naruto's cries had drawn both Kakashi and Sasuke over to the pair. "What's the matter with you, moron?"

Kakashi looked down at the boy. "Naruto, are you alright?"

"My ears..." he whined, "They really hurt Kakashi-sensei."

The jonin bent down. "Let me see them."

Naruto lowered his hands, and Kakashi saw that both of the offending ears were a bright red. He touched one of them, and Naruto let out a hiss.

"Hmm, I'm not an expert, but you may have an ear infection."

Sakura looked at her hand and grimaced. "Yuck." She momentarily wished she'd kept wearing her gloves.

Kakashi pulled the boy to his feet. "I think you've had enough training for now Naruto."

The boy's face fell. "Aw come on Kakashi-sensei!" He clutched his ears again. "Ow..."

"Go get ear drops, okay Naruto? Follow the directions and let your ears heal. And if they're still hurting, don't come to practice tomorrow."

"Okay Kakashi-sensei," came the dejected reply. The boy walked off, still holding his ears.

Kakashi turned back to his other two genin. "As for you two, you can take a short break."

"Really?" said the Uchiha with flat disbelief.

"Yes. It will take me a little bit to reset the traps and add new ones."

Both genin groaned.

Exactly two weeks later, the members of Team Seven found themselves helping clean up one of Konoha's largest parks, along with all the other genin teams. It was a systematic process, doing it section by section, collecting trash in bags and depositing those filled bags at the shelter where their jonin senseis were. They'd started at mid-morning, around 10:30 AM. It was close to noon now.

Sakura wiped some sweat off her wide forehead, cursing the fact that the park was so large, but also thankful for their team not being alone. But even with all of the genin, it was going to take a long while to get this done. Over in the distance, she saw Ino yelling at one of her teammates.

"Shikamaru, get off your lazy backside and get back to helping," she cried. Shikamaru just frowned, lying in the grass and staring at the clouds, only getting up when Ino delivered a kick to his side. "You too Choji!" she said to her other teammate who was sitting on a bench eating from a bag of potato chips. "And remember to throw those bags away properly."

Choji looked at the pair of empty bags beside him before looking back at Ino guiltily, and putting them in his trash bag.

Sakura saw Sasuke on a nearby hill. He'd gone off in that direction after she'd tried to get him to work together with her. The pink-haired girl let out another sigh. Getting Sasuke's attention was like drawing blood from a rock. A very hard rock. How would she win his affection at this rate? At least Ino's not having any better luck than me. She saw Ino trying to talk to Sasuke before he stalked off even further.

So Sakura trudged along through the park, skewering trash with the stick she'd been given along with all the other genin. The grass crinkled beneath her shoes.

"Watch out," said a soft voice from behind her. Sakura gave a small cry and whirled around to see Shino Aburame. She didn't know him very well, and didn't really know much about his clan. As far as she could gather, they were fairly quiet people, and Shino seemed to be no exception. Something about him made her skin crawl. Maybe it was the way he stared at her through those sunglasses of his. As far as she could remember, she'd never seen him take them off. Were they prescription glasses?

"What?"

"There's an ant hill about three feet ahead in that direction." He pointed out to a large pile of dirt well hidden in the grass.

Relief flooded her body. "Thanks for warning me Shino. I'd definitely like to avoid ant bites."

Shino's expression didn't change. "Actually I was more concerned for the ants. You could cause a great deal of damage to the colony if you stepped on it. Accidental of course."

What a weird guy. And how is he not melting in that coat?

As she moved on, she spotted Team Guy. Neji was using his Byakugan to spot areas to be cleaned at a distance, and Tenten was marking them on a map, and giving Lee directions. Over in another direction, Shino had joined Kiba and Hinata. Akamaru was running around Kiba, seemingly overjoyed to be roaming the park, and Sakura felt a smile come to her lips. Akamaru was an adorable puppy. It made her wonder if maybe one of these days she should look into getting a dog. If she did, Kiba's family would definitely be the ones to ask.

After picking up some more trash, Sakura tied off her bag and headed to the shelter to drop it off. As she approached, she saw Naruto nearby. He looked flushed as he panted in the sun. The blonde's ear infection had cleared up the next day, which was odd, but Sakura didn't spend too much time pondering it. After that incident however, he was back to talking to her, and she let him. He still didn't bring up the mess that was his birthday gift, and she was perfectly fine with that.

"Kakashi-sensei," he yelled, "Why do we have to do this when it's so hot?!"

"It's important to clean up the park Naruto," replied Kakashi lazily. "Besides, the heat tests your endurance."

"So why aren't you out here helping too?" he fired back. Sakura had to agree with that. He and the other jonin could at least lend a little bit of a hand.

"Because I'm a jonin Naruto. I don't need this kind of experience." Beside him, Kurenai and Asuma smirked.

You're just being lazy as usual, declared Inner Sakura.

Naruto just leaned against his stick. "So hot..." he muttered. Then he winced and started scratching furiously at his back.

Sakura saw Hinata go up to him. "N-Naruto...are you okay? Would you like some water?"

He glanced back at her. "Oh hi Hinata. I'll be fine. I think I just need to take off my jacket. Besides, you look like you could use the water yourself. Your face is red."

"Oh, um..." Sakura saw the girl fiddle with her fingers, and the ever growing redness of her cheeks. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought it was a blush. Why would she be blushing at Naruto? Could the young Hyuga girl have a crush on him? Sakura rejected the idea almost instantly. Naruto was...well he was Naruto. The idea of someone actually developing a crush on him just seemed too strange to be possible.

Naruto took off his jacket and set it aside on a nearby bench, leaving him in only the black T-shirt. Strangely, it didn't have a drop of sweat on it. How in the world could Naruto spend all this time in the sun with a jacket and a black T-shirt and not sweat? As he continued to scratch at his back, Sakura thought she saw something red poking out from under his right shirt sleeve.

Apparently, Kakashi noticed it too, along with his other behavior. He closed his book and walked over to Naruto. "Naruto, what's that on your arm?"

"Huh?" The boy blinked, before looking at his arms. "You mean that bump? I don't know."

"Alright, then perhaps you can tell me what's wrong with your back."

"It's just an itch Kakashi-sensei. I'm fine." He quickly stabbed another piece of trash before depositing it in the bag. He squirmed a bit under his teacher's critical eye. And Sakura saw the way his fingers twitched. He looked like he was resisting the urge to scratch his skin again.

"Hmm," was Kakashi's only reply, followed up quickly by "Naruto, take off your shirt."

"What?" he declared loudly.

"I want to get a look at your back. Don't argue with me."

Naruto frowned for a second before relenting, and Sakura saw Hinata's face turn a very bright red. Sakura tilted her head. Could she really have a crush on him?

Sakura was shaken from her musings when she saw the sudden wide-eyed expression on Hinata's face. When she looked at Naruto, she let out a gasp of her own. Naruto's back was an angry shade of red and covered in tiny raised bumps. From what Sakura could see, the redness extended to his upper arms and wrapped around the front of his torso.

"What are those, mosquito bites?" asked Kakashi with a raised eyebrow.

"They're not mosquito bites," answered Shino, who had walked closer to the shelter, filled trash bag in hand.

Kakashi's eyebrow went up higher. "Then what are they?"

Naruto just looked at his red torso. "I don't know. They weren't there this morning, I swear."

"Offhand," replied Asuma and he, Kurenai, and Guy approached, "I'd say it's a heat rash."

"A what?" asked Kakashi.

"A heat rash," replied Kurenai. She walked up to Naruto and bent down to eye level. "Naruto, does your skin itch?"

"Yeah," he said slowly. "Kind of feels like, um..."

"Pins and needles?" she offered.

"Yeah, that's it."

Kurenai stood up and turned to her fellow jonin. "Definitely a heat rash then."

"And what exactly is a heat rash?" asked Kakashi.

Asuma fielded the question. "It's a rash caused when sweat is unable to escape, so it sinks into a deeper area of the epidermis, causing irritation, which is the redness you see there, and a painful pins and needles type of itch."

His tone was so confident and authoritative. Sakura recalled Asuma-sensei was the son of the Third Hokage, and that the Third Hokage's wife had been a medical ninja. It seemed to her that, despite him not being a medic himself, some of that knowledge may have rubbed off.

Kurenai nodded as she looked over Naruto's torso a bit more. "Although this one seems particularly aggressive."

"No kidding," interjected Kiba. A lot more of the genin were coming to the shelter now to drop off their own bags. He stood closer to Naruto, examining the boy's red back. "Man, that is one nasty looking rash." Akamaru barked in seeming agreement.

"It happens either because someone sweats so much it becomes overwhelming for the skin, or when someone dresses so warmly sweat isn't able to evaporate," continued Asuma, undaunted by the interruptions. "It's more common in children though because of their less developed sweat glands."

Now Guy had joined the conversation. "You'd probably have learned that already Kakashi, if you trained more genin like the rest of us."

Kakashi took the good natured jab without even flinching. "Well I just like to think I have higher standards than most," he glanced at the assembled genin, several of whom looked offended, before adding "present company excepted of course."

"In any case, I think it's best if Naruto sits out of the rest of the mission," said Kurenai.

"What?!" cried the boy. "I can still do the mission. A stupid rash isn't going to stop me, believe it!"

"There's a small risk of heat exhaustion," replied Asuma as he looked Naruto in the eyes. "The chances only go up if you continue strenuous work and stay out in the sun, and I'd say they're even higher with how widespread it is. Wouldn't you agree Kakashi?"

The copy ninja nodded. "Agreed. Naruto, you're going to stay here with us. The others can handle the rest of the mission."

"But-"

"Go ahead and do it you idiot," said Sasuke as he walked up to the shelter, carrying a large bag behind him. Sakura's eyes followed his movements. Even when carrying and collecting trash, he still projected an aura of coolness. "You look close to passing out. So do the smart thing for once and get in the shade. Besides," he added with a smirk, "We don't need you for this. You'd probably screw it up somehow."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Sasuke," he growled. He looked ready to leap at Sasuke and start a physical fight. Sakura stood ready to intercept, but before either she or Naruto could act, Kakashi put his arm in front of the boy.

"You need to get out of the sun Naruto. That's a direct order." Kakashi's voice took on a rarely used sternness.

Naruto still hesitated, looking at Sasuke and his fellow genin.

"Don't be stubborn Naruto," said Sakura with an aggravated sigh as she dropped off her own trash bag, "The last thing we need is you passing out, which you probably will if you keep going."

"Yeah," added Tenten, who was also getting new bags for her team. "There's no need to do that to yourself for a D-rank mission like this."

"Besides," said Shikamaru, being pushed along by Ino as he took bags of his own, "It's pretty obvious that you're fighting the need to scratch that thing. You'd be distracted if you kept working."

"Go and get that taken care of Naruto," said an irritated Ino, "It looks awful." She grimaced in clear disgust.

"Alright..." said Naruto solemnly.

Guy, however, seemed ready to weep. "Naruto, your determination to help in the face of unconsciousness has inspired me! The fire of youth truly burns within you. As such, I will join the mission to make up for the loss of your efforts. In fact, Kakashi will join me!"

Kakashi stared at the jonin with confusion and dread. "I will?" he croaked.

"YES! We'll make it a competition. We'll take the western side of the park. Come Kakashi, this time I'll defeat you for sure."

Guy went racing off, dragging a very reluctant Kakashi with him while the assembled genin and jonin watched in a mix of mostly confusion and embarrassment. It was moments like that which made Sakura almost glad she had Kakashi for a teacher and not Guy. Almost. It did however bring a small smile to her face to see her teacher get a little taste of his own sadistic medicine.

"Guy-sensei is so compassionate," said an awestruck Lee. "I will honor his efforts by working even harder!" Lee ran off toward another part of the park, an irritated Neji and a sighing Tenten following behind.

Kurenai got Naruto's attention. "Come on Naruto, you need to get in the shade." She placed a hand on his shoulder, which only caused the itch there to worsen and for Naruto to reach over and try to scratch it.

Feeling hot herself, Sakura took a minute to sit under the shelter and take a drink of water before she resumed work. She watched Kurenai sit Naruto down on a bench, setting his jacket and shirt next to him. "Wait here while I get some water and a few towels. We're going to clean off your skin first. That should help soothe the itching, and we'll see if you need any medication after that."

Naruto nodded without a word, and when Kurenai left, he returned to scratching at the rash.

Ha! Karma for the poison ivy, cried Inner Sakura in triumph. Sakura had to agree with that, but she also had to admit, it looked painful. The sight of him scratching so badly still brought a frown to her face.

"Stupid rash," Naruto muttered angrily. "Stupid Sasuke..." He stopped to wipe his forehead. "Man, I'm still hot."

In a few minutes, Kurenai returned with a bucket of cold water and a large quantity of paper towels, which she then started using to clean off Naruto's skin, starting with his back. From the relief on Naruto's face, it looked like the water was soothing the itch.

Maybe she should offer to help? Despite what he'd done on her birthday, some part of her felt bad that he'd developed such a large rash.

But just as she was about to volunteer, she saw Ino moving across towards a patch of trees. "Hey, Sasuke, wait for me!"

That Ino-pig. There's no way she's going to get Sasuke's attention instead of me, declared Inner Sakura. Glancing at the clock in the shelter, Sakura realized how long she'd been lingering. What if Sasuke started to think she was a slacker like Shikamaru?! With impressive speed, Sakura got up and grabbed a new trash bag, heading out in the same direction as Ino and Sasuke.

Naruto will probably be fine with Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei anyway. After all, it's just a heat rash.

It was April 23rd when Sakura found herself waiting for her sensei on the usual training ground. Sasuke was further away from her, waiting under the shade of a tree, as he frequently did. Naruto was, surprisingly, not there yet. The last time he'd been late to practice had been her birthday. Part of her was wary that he was up to something again. By the time Kakashi showed up, this time claiming he had to help an old lady across the street, Naruto still hadn't shown.

"Well, we'll give him a little more time," said Kakashi with a shrug. "But while we wait, you two can do some basic target practice."

The two went to it without argument, and after ten minutes, they finally heard Naruto calling to them.

"Hi guys!"

Sakura holstered her kunai and turned to her teammate, arms crossed over her chest. "You're late Naruto. Kakashi-sensei got here ten minutes ago."

"Sorry Kakashi-sensei, I, uh, overslept."

It was a pathetic sounding excuse, but Kakashi seemed to accept it.

With Naruto there, Kakashi had them switch training. First it was practice with the Substitution Jutsu. It was a basic move, but Kakashi wanted them to focus on improving timing and distance, throwing a rubber ball at them to simulate a weapon. Out of the three of them, Naruto got hit with it the most. Sakura had started to count the number of hits he took, but lost track after twenty eight. Or was it thirty?

After that it was sparring. It was her and Naruto first. It wasn't an especially hard fight. She'd managed to block or dodge most of what he threw in her direction, and she send him to the ground with a kick to the side when she saw his guard was down. He seemed a little slower to her during the fight. But then, Naruto had a tendency to be gentler when he sparred with her, no doubt because of his very obvious crush. It was infuriating, but ultimately it was his problem, since she frequently took advantage of it.

Naruto groaned as he got up from the ground. Kakashi then announced it was him and Sasuke next.

"I'll mop the floor with you this time," declared Naruto in between huffs, his face red.

"In your dreams," was Sasuke's only response.

The sparring match went underway, the boys trading punches and kicks. At one point Naruto employed his shadow clones, sending five of them against Sasuke.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura objected. Sparring matches like these were usually taijutsu only.

"It's alright Sakura," replied her teacher. "If it gets out of hand, I'll stop it."

Sasuke managed to dodge and block the attacks of the clones, even using the Substitution Jutsu to avoid attacks a few times.

"Is this really the best you can do?" mocked Sasuke.

"I'll knock that smug look off your face you jerk!" Naruto kept attacking, his anger getting the better of him. A few times during the fight, Sakura saw the chest and stomach of either Naruto or one of his clones twitch. It was odd, but just as quickly forgotten in the fury of the fight. With Sasuke's usual level of coordination and skill, he managed to disperse all of the shadow clones before sweeping the real Naruto's legs out from under him.

"I'm not done yet." Naruto got to his knees, ready to stand again. "I-" he said, before wincing as he moved his arm, and then breaking into a series of loud coughs that forced him to sit down. The boy then held his head in his hands, breathing hard.

Kakashi was looking at Naruto with a narrowed eye. Sakura saw it too. His face was still flushed, and Sakura saw a small trail of clear mucus at the edge of his nose.

"Naruto," asked Kakashi, "are you feeling sick?"

"W-What?! No Kakashi-sensei, I've never felt better, believe it!" Naruto laughed nervously, putting his hand behind his head only to wince again at moving it, and cough a few more times.

Sakura knew that was a lie, and so did Sasuke and Kakashi. The copy ninja walked up to the boy and took one his arms, flexing it. Naruto winced once again.

"It seems like your muscles are a little sore Naruto" said Kakashi flatly.

"I-It's just from training sensei, honest."

"You look flushed too," added Kakashi as he put a hand to the boy's forehead. "You seem to have a slight fever."

"I'm just worked up, that's all" Naruto defended again.

"There's the runny nose, and the coughing..."

"The coughing was from the dirt when I hit the ground."

Sakura took that moment to jump in, the dots connecting in her head. "No it wasn't. I saw your stomach twitch. You were suppressing the coughs, weren't you?" More connections raced through her head. "You caught the flu didn't you? And you were sick when you got here. Naruto, did you come here knowing you were sick?"

Naruto just looked away from her. "Um..."

"I think that qualifies as a yes" answered Kakashi.

Sasuke just groaned. "Seriously Naruto? You're such a loser."

"I'll show you-" Naruto's comeback was halted by more coughing.

Sakura felt her blood pressure rising. "Naruto, you idiot! Why did you show up for training if you knew you had the flu?! What if you gave Sasuke your germs?" Ha, as if Naruto's germs could actually get to Sasuke, scoffed Inner Sakura. But Sakura shut that voice up, knowing that they weren't his germs more than anyone else's. She paused when another thought occurred to her. "What if you gave me your germs? Or even Kakashi-sensei?!"

Naruto looked a little guilty now, his face flushing a bit more. "Well, I..."

"You're so stubborn Naruto."

"She's right Naruto," added Kakashi. "If you realized you had the flu, you should have stayed home. There was nothing special about this training session that you couldn't have gotten back to later. You could have given us the flu, and you certainly weren't helping yourself get better. It's not good teamwork to risk making your comrades sick if you can avoid it. So as of right now, I want you to head home and rest before it gets worse."

"But I wanted to train," declared the boy.

"And your insistence on doing so could have made any of us sick as well, though hopefully not. You're not well Naruto. Now go home. Your teammates will be just fine training without you for a while." Kakashi's tone had an edge of annoyance to it. Sakura didn't blame him. It was one thing to wake up and feel unwell, but to still go out to ninja training when you knew you had probably contracted a flu bug? It was downright stupid. But considering it was Naruto, the action didn't really surprise her.

Naruto seemed to want to say something, but he stopped, holding his head. No doubt he had a slight headache from all the activity he'd been placing on his already stressed body. He looked at them, blue eyes filled with a mix of frustration, hurt, and fatigue.

"Yeah, I get it. I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei. I'll go home now." Without another sound other than a few light coughs, Naruto began gathering up his things.

Kakashi let out a sigh. "Alright. With that out of the way, we'll try some different training. Sakura, I want you to try target practice again. Your aim with kunai was still a little off earlier. Sasuke, you and I are going to spar. Understood?"

The two genin nodded and separated. Inner Sakura was grumbling again. Kakashi-sensei always gives Sasuke personal training. Why doesn't he do that with the rest of us? It's not fair!

Sakura pushed those thoughts back. Kakashi was a jonin, and he probably had an excellent reason for his actions. She headed back to the target practice area from before. As she walked towards it, she saw Naruto walking away toward the road back toward the main part of the village. He was moving slowly, pausing for a moment as he leaned against a post, holding his head and coughing, before continuing on.

As he moved further away, Sakura felt a trace of worry nagging her in the back of her mind. She turned her gaze from Naruto, pushing the feeling away. She didn't need to worry. Even if he had the flu, it didn't seem like it was too bad. He would be fine with some rest. Besides, he was Naruto. Knowing him, he'd be back up to his hyperactive, annoying self in maybe three days maximum.

As she adjusted her target, she took one more look back at the blonde's retreating form. The sense of worry came back again, settling like a rock in her stomach. She shook her head, pulled out her kunai, and threw it at the target.

"He'll be just fine," she muttered to herself as she took aim again. "I'm just being silly."

But even as she spent the rest of the day doing target practice, the feeling remained buried at the bottom of her stomach.

Kakashi had been woken up in the middle of the night or early morning many times in his career. Messengers from the Hokage or from his commanders in ANBU would greet him, bearing sudden orders. But such events had stopped once he'd been transferred out of ANBU and made a jonin instructor. But old habits die hard, so it was with only halfway surprise that he woke to yet another messenger.

This one was a young chunin he recognized as being an aide from the missions office. The young man was dangling from the ceiling, caught in the net trap Kakashi had set for anyone that would try to sneak through his window. It always paid to be cautious when one was a ninja. That's why all the other messengers had used the front door.

"Sir," said the young man with a very nervous salute after Kakashi had set him free. Kakashi wondered if it was his rank and reputation that intimidated the young chunin, or how easily he'd been caught. Either way, Kakashi had to hold back a chuckle.

"No need to salute. Now what did you come here to tell me?"

"Um, yes sir." The young man saluted again on reflex before forcing his arm down. "The village fire brigade requests your assistance dealing with an apartment fire on the west side, uh, sir."

Kakashi nodded. The village fire brigade had called on his help before on numerous occasions. Since an affinity for, or even knowledge of, water related jutsus was rare in the Land of Fire, the local fire brigade was made of civilians. Kakashi could probably count the total number of ninja in the village that knew water jutsus on both hands, himself already included. And of that group, he was the most experienced.

Still, helping the fire brigade could take a while. He thought of his students. They were supposed to meet for training this morning. For all the effort he put into being late, there was only so far he'd push it.

Besides, he might not even have the energy for the trio afterwards. So he told the messenger to go to each one of his genin team and tell them that he would be dealing with the fire brigade, that the meeting time was pushed back an hour, and he'd send word if it was canceled. As the young man turned to leave, Kakashi reminded him to use the front door.

His considerate act of the year done, Kakashi quickly dressed in his jonin gear before taking off into the village, heading for the west side. The location wasn't hard to find. He picked up the smell of smoke in the air as he approached.

The coats of the village fire brigade were equally easy to spot, the name of their unit printed on them in large, proud letters, even if they were partially obscured by soot and grime. They'd cordoned off a sizable area. In the center was the blackened remains of an apartment building. As Kakashi approached, he noted how the right side of it had caved in. Nearby, a crowd of villagers was gathered.

All of the firefighters looked completely worn. Kakashi made a bee line for the fire chief, a man named Kozu. He was easily distinguished by his dark brown, bushy mustache, and tall height.

"Hello Kozu. I heard you needed me," greeted Kakashi with mock cheer.

The man just grimaced as he looked over the scene. "Just for insurance Kakashi." His tone was gruff, like the angry growl of a large dog. His expression made him seem sort of like Ibiki. But despite similarities in height, Kozu didn't have Ibiki's width, or Ibiki's sadistic streak. "You know I wouldn't call you here if I didn't have to."

Kakashi just nodded. He knew the sentiment bore no offense. "So, what happened here?"

"Well-"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi turned to see Sakura and Sasuke coming up to him. "What are you two doing here?"

"We ran into the messenger while he was trying to find us," replied Sasuke.

"Sasuke thought it would be best to just come here instead of waiting at the training ground," added Sakura, blushing in Sasuke's direction.

"So the fire brigade asked for your help again, eh Kakashi?"

Kakashi looked to see Guy and his team coming towards him. Kakashi shrugged. "As it happens, yes. What are you doing here Guy?"

"Bad news travels fast," replied Asuma, coming up behind Guy with his team, along with Kurenai and her team.

Well, the gang's all here it seems... mused Kakashi.

"Do you people mind if we get back to work here, now that everyone's done saying hello?" barked Kozu.

Kakashi nodded his head. "Of course Kozu."

"As I was trying to say, in the early hours of the morning we got a message about a large fire at this apartment building." He gestured to the half-ruined structure in the center of area. "We're not really sure where or what started it. We were going to interview the evacuees when we were done. But whatever the cause, the whole building caught fire, and fast, before it started spreading to the surrounding buildings."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "And of course this happened on the west side. I keep telling the Hokage that something needs to be done around here. The way these buildings are, they're practically a pile of kindling just waiting to go up."

He gave a sigh. "As soon as we got here, we evacuated everyone we could and started to put it out. Real monster of a fire. When we started making headway, part of the apartment building collapsed. Though I wouldn't have been surprised if those beams were already infested with termites. What I need you to do is take a look around the area and see if there are any embers remaining, and put them out. My men are totally exhausted from containing that thing and I don't want to take even the remotest chance that it will reignite."

Kakashi nodded again. "Understood."

"Kakashi-sensei," interrupted Sakura, "Can Sasuke and I help you look?"

The copy ninja shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"Good," said Kozu, before turning to address the other genin teams. "And I'd like all of you to stick around for a while. After we make sure all potential embers are out, I'd like your help dealing with the unstable buildings."

"We'd be honored to help!" declared Guy. "Right Lee?"

"Right!" replied his student.

"We'd be happy to help you as well," added Asuma, which got a groan from Shikamaru.

"As would we," said Kurenai.

Leaving Kozu and the other teams to themselves, Kakashi moved over to the cordoned off area, his students following behind. His eyes glanced off the charred wood and scorched stone. Kozu wasn't kidding about the scale of the blaze, if the remains were any indicators. But then, Kakashi knew he wasn't one for hyperbole. He spotted a glowing ember before putting it out with a minor water jutsu he knew that created a miniature raincloud.

"Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura as she and Sasuke came up behind him, "Why didn't the fire brigade call you in earlier? I mean if it was really that bad, shouldn't they have gotten your help right away? Does the fire chief not like you or something?"

"It's nothing like that Sakura. Kozu is a very proud man. He only took over as fire chief a couple years ago actually."

Kakashi moved the small raincloud to another ember. "His predecessor actually called me and other ninja in far more often. But Kozu doesn't want that. He feels that, since the brigade is made of civilians and there are so few shinobi in the village with water skills, the brigade needs to be able to handle things on their own, and not become dependent on those few ninja for every problem."

Kakashi saw Sasuke nod his head in approval. The copy ninja omitted the rest of the argument, which Kozu had told Kakashi over drinks one night when they ran into each other at a bar.

He'd compared the problem to the disaster that was the Konoha police force, or, rather, the current lack of one. It had been under the control of the Uchiha clan, and had been reliant on that clan to fill most of its ranks. With them gone, Kozu pointed out, the police force was non-existent. Kakashi figured that Sasuke wouldn't be so happy to hear that part, no matter how right Kozu had been in his comparisons.

As his genin helped him spot a few more embers, Kakashi idly wondered where his last student was. Was Naruto sleeping in? He wouldn't have been surprised. The training that Naruto had done probably exacerbated his flu.

It did make Kakashi wonder though. While the chakra of the Nine Tails helped accelerate the natural healing process, how effective was it in assisting against infections? Did it mass produce white blood cells? It was true that Naruto's ear infection had been quick to heal. But that was hardly enough evidence to draw a good judgement.

Well, one thing was for certain. If Naruto didn't show up for training, Kakashi wouldn't hold it against him this time.

His idle musings were cut off when he heard Sakura speak again. "Sasuke, isn't that the messenger that ran into us?"

"Yeah, I think it is" came the answer.

Kakashi had just finished dousing another glowing fragment of wood when he turned his head. Indeed, it was the same young chunin that had brought him the message. He was standing there, looking extremely confused. Not spotting any other embers for the moment, he dispelled the raincloud and walked over to the boy.

"Sir!" said the young man with a salute as soon as he saw the jonin.

Kakashi just waved at him. "Yo. What are you doing here?"

"I was, um, looking for your other student, Naruto Uzumaki. From the address you gave me, I thought he lived around here. But I can't seem to find it. I... I think I must have copied it down wrong."

Kakashi looked around at the buildings and street signs. Alarm bells started to go off in his head. Please don't let this be where I think it is.

Without another word, he leapt back over to Kozu. "What was the address of this apartment building?"

He was confused, but told Kakashi the address. It was as he feared. He knew that address. He'd been here before. This was Naruto's apartment building. The mental alarm bells were loud enough now that, if they were real, they would have been deafening.

Kakashi saw another member of the fire brigade by the crowd of evacuees and bolted over to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed his fellow jonin taking notice of his behavior, concern written all over their faces. His students, meanwhile hung back in confusion.

"You there," he said to the fireman sternly, "Have you made a list of the evacuees?"

The man was startled by Kakashi's sudden command. "Um, yes. I have it right here. We made a list of all the tenants in the affected buildings and checked it against every one of the evacuees."

Kakashi snatched the list from his hand before the man could protest, and scanned it over. He went through name after name, seeing each marked as present and alive. But then he found one name that had nothing next to it.

He tossed the list back to the firemen and approached the crowd. "Has anyone seen Naruto Uzumaki? He's a twelve year old boy, short, with blonde hair and blue eyes."

The crowd looked around, but no one said anything. Kakashi turned to look back at the building before whirling around and pointing to a nearby woman. "You!"

The woman took a step back, eyes wide. "Um, yes?" she squeaked out.

"What side would apartment 4-D have been on?"

The woman stood there confused, Kakashi's gaze making her squirm, but managed to stutter an answer. "Um, t-the r-right side."

The side that collapsed...

His genin team had come up to him now. "Kakashi-sensei, what is it?" he heard Sakura ask. Her voice seemed far away. He vaguely registered Sasuke looking at him with barely masked concern.

Kakashi just looked at the wreckage again before he leapt over to it, uncovering his Sharingan and moving it across the ruined stone and wood with barely controlled motions. Come on Naruto, show me a chakra signature.

A firm hand gripped his shoulder. "Kakashi! What's the matter?" It was Guy, worry firmly etched onto his face and looking every bit discordant on him.

"This was Naruto's building. He's not in the crowd of evacuees. His apartment was on the side that collapsed." Kakashi breathed out, eyes turning back to the ruins.

Guy paled. "What?!" Nearby, the other teams took on expressions of horror.

"He could have been buried in the wreckage" continued Kakashi, still desperately searching for a flash of color that would indicate a survivor.

In a move that surprised everyone, Hinata dashed to the wreckage, activating her Byakugan. Her face was ashen as she searched in visible desperation.

"Neji!" called Guy.

Without a word, Neji joined in the same search. Eventually though, he shook his head, and so did Hinata, though she only did so after a great deal of resistance.

The jonin had gathered closer together now. "Could he have gotten out before the collapse?" asked Asuma.

"He was sick the day before, but I suppose it's not impossible..." admitted Kakashi.

Kurenai looked around at the many streets. "He could have slipped away from the area and the main crowd of people."

"He would be hurt though, wouldn't he? Wouldn't someone have noticed?" said Guy.

"Not necessarily" answered Kakashi, wheels turning in his head. "Naruto heals at an accelerated rate thanks to...you know what," he said, keeping his voice low to avoid the genin overhearing. "So whatever damage he sustained might have healed or at least decreased. But that doesn't mean he might not be worn out between that and the flu from yesterday."

"A search of the general area seems best," said Asuma with a nod. "We could have all our genin spread out to widen the search. Ino has been working on the Mind Transmission Jutsu, so she could communicate with my team at least."

"You know my team specializes in tracking and location, so they have a high chance of finding him," said Kurenai.

"And though only Neji has the Byakugan, Lee and Tenten have the vigorous power of youth on their side!"

"If Naruto is anywhere around here, we'll find him," said Asuma with a reassuring smile.

Kakashi's eye crinkled. Even with everything he'd lost, he still had friends among these jonin. "Thanks."

Kakashi and his fellow jonin split apart to give their respective teams orders, spreading them out in all directions. The jonin each went their own way, and Kakashi summoned all of his nin-dogs to further expand the search. As he moved from rooftop to rooftop, Kakashi's mind was a flurry of activity. Naruto's healing rate would have helped him against any burns. And he hadn't been under the rubble.

Or maybe the Byakugan can't distinguish dead bodies. The chakra that gets let loose from the seal is limited. Even it might not be able to keep up if a building got dropped on the boy. Kakashi pushed those thoughts out of his head. He couldn't give up hope. For all he knew, maybe Naruto wasn't even home last night. If he was unhurt, they'd all laugh. But he had to be here. He had to.

Please don't let me have lost my teacher's only son.

Sakura dashed through the busy streets of Konoha, eyes scanning the crowd for her blonde teammate. Where was he? She stopped by one of the stalls. "Excuse me. Have you seen Naruto Uzumaki anywhere around here today?"

The man at the stall just sneered. "No," he said in an even tone. "I haven't seen that blonde brat all day."

Sakura was too panicked to pay his attitude any mind, rushing away and through the streets. The normally polite girl didn't bother asking people to move. Instead she just plowed through them when she couldn't slip by.

He has to be here. He just has to be. You idiot, where are you?

Suddenly she found herself running right into something solid. Falling to the ground, she looked up to see a rather large and angry man staring down at her.

"Watch it you little twerp," he sneered. "Are you some kind of moron, running into me like that?"

Adrenaline still surging through her body, Sakura felt the "flight" response turn to "fight" and the anger of her inner personality was momentarily unrestrained as she glared back at the man.

"I'm a ninja and my teammate is missing, so do me a favor and get out of my way!"

The man retreated, her furious scream echoing in his ears as she punctuated it with a punch right to his gut. The rest of the civilians gave her a wide berth after that. Sakura searched and searched, but found no trace of the blonde anywhere.

Stopping briefly at an intersection to catch her breath, Sasuke hopped down from a roof to join her. "Anything?"

"No," she answered with a huff. "He's not anywhere. Everybody I asked said they hadn't seen him all day. Where else could he be?"

The two pondered the question before speaking the answer at the same time. "Ichiraku Ramen!"

"Come on, it's this way."

Sasuke grabbed her hand as they started running, before realizing what he'd done and letting go, never allowing himself to lose speed. Sakura might have blushed at the sudden contact and gone into a giddy mental spiral. But the adrenaline was overriding everything, a sense of dread that pervaded her, like an amplified version of the worry she'd had yesterday.

Knowing Naruto though, they'd find him laughing and stuffing his face at the ramen stand. The idea soothed her mind as they continued towards it. Yeah, Naruto will be sitting there like always. Then we can yell at him for scaring us. I'm going to punch him so hard when I find him.

Finally they reached the stand. But Naruto wasn't there. It was empty of all customers. Sakura got ahead of Sasuke and went up to the counter. Ayame was busy cleaning a bowl when Sakura approached. She greeted the pink-haired girl with a soft smile. "Oh hello. You're Naruto's teammates, aren't you? Sakura, right?"

"Yes, I am" Sakura said curtly, throwing aside her normal politeness. "Have you seen Naruto today at all?"

The brunette set down the bowl. "Naruto? Hmm, I don't think so."

Sasuke had come up beside Sakura. "Are you sure about that?" he asked. Even his usual cool was starting to crack, just a bit.

"Well," Ayame admitted, "I wasn't here for the first part of the morning shift. There was some repair work in the apartment that needed to be done."

"Ayame, is everything okay?" called a voice from the back.

"Yeah Dad. Naruto's teammates are here and they're wondering if we've seen him today. Did he come by while I was upstairs?"

Teuchi came out from the kitchen, still holding a spatula. "Naruto? No, he hasn't shown up at all today. The last time we saw him he was walking down the street towards his apartment."

Ayame nodded. "Yeah. He looked awful. When we got his attention, he said he was feeling sick and was just headed home. He didn't even stop for his usual meal."

Teuchi looked at his watch, eyebrows furrowing. "Actually, he should have shown up by now. Is there something the matter?"

"There was a fire at his apartment building," answered Sasuke.

The pair's eyes went wide. "What?" cried Ayame. "Is he okay?"

"We don't know," said Sakura. "We can't find him anywhere. If you see him, could you please tell one of the jonin instructors as soon as possible? They're all helping us search."

"Of course." The ramen chef nodded gently. "Ayame and I will keep our eyes peeled for him."

"Thank you." With that Sakura was off again, she and Sasuke splitting up at another intersection. As she weaved through the streets of the village, the worried feeling from the day before returned, settling again in the bottom of her stomach, this time like a lead weight. With every street and every corner she passed by without a trace of the blonde, the same thought repeated in her head over and over.

Naruto, where are you?