"It's a nice day, isn't it?"

It was.

Walking along the top of the long fence alongside the Academy, Lee behind her. For him it was balance practice, for her it was just enjoying the warm wind drifting along. Sliding deeper into fall, these warm days would become less and less frequent. While it did not actually snow in Fire Nation except in the very highest mountains, the cold season could still be felt in Konoha. All those forests, the shade of the trees. Sometimes the temperature would dip enough to frost windows in the mornings, and certainly, everyone dressed a little heavier. Thicker kimonos for the traditionalists, leather or denim or fur for others more willing to try out the old styles being recreated from the lost cities from before the Days of Fire.

The breeze blew the dry leaves up from the piles on the ground, sent them drifting along in the sun.

"Hey, look up there. Naruto and his girl are waving at us."

They waved back up at the roof.

Sakaki liked the new look on that girl.

Not so much in the first few days after she had dyed her hair black, but now, when the ends were still black and it came out that delicate pink at the roots. She also seemed a lot more relaxed. Sakaki supposed that they were good for each other - certainly, Naruto needed more structure in his life. And that Haruno - it must have been nice to have someone a little dangerous, but mostly safe, who would be as daring as she wanted or as comforting.

Lee looked a little cross just then.

"Jealous, Lee?"

"Haha, well. I guess so. It would be nice to have someone to kiss like that, don't you think? Umm."

Sakaki had long grown used to ignoring Lee's words when his expression reflected that he didn't know he was talking. Sometimes, it was still funny. And sometimes, when he'd blurt out secret thoughts about wanting to kiss her and the soft warmth of her lips and how he wished he could hold her tight, he was utterly embarrassing.

"Uh. So, Lee, how are you coming along with the modifications to your puppets?"

That usually got his mind off of her. Somewhat.

"Ah, it's going great! I mean, my techniques aren't nearly so refined, probably, as the Suna puppeteers, since I'm teaching myself out of a book - but I bet they'd be surprised when my puppets blast through theirs. I still don't have that much fine control, but if I just pour it in, my iron puppets can really do a lot of damage! Helps me fake clones too - I think I'll be able to have it down in time to pass the last exam."

The last exam. It was so close.

Soon, her goal would be a little less far away.

"Oh, look at that!" Lee exclaimed, shaking his fists so violently he almost spilled off the steel fence. "Even Neji is dating someone! Man."

Sakaki frowned too. Not that she was envious or jealous, but she didn't think she quite approved of that Tenten girl. Oh, she was plenty serious about her training, but Sakaki would have liked someone a little more... affectionate maybe, for Neji. As Lee and her walked on, their two classmates were circling, dusty and sweaty as their feet pounded the earth and blades flickered back and forth.

"Are they really going out? It's like they just use each other for practice all the time. I mean, you, me, Neji, Osaka and Chiyo all do that together all the time."

"He does like her though," Lee said, shrugging. "He almost smiles when he's around her."

Well, at least Neji had gotten over her. It had been just a bit creepy when he'd started crushing on her after she had beaten him up the year before.

Speaking of creepy...

"I don't see that kid around these days. Maybe he's gotten over it."

"Why don't you just fight him? He's had a few months - I'm sure he's learned a lot from that loss to Neji."

Sakaki shook her head. As they passed a tree that had gotten a little overgrown, she swept her palm forward at the branches. A wide swath of branches and leaves turned to dust before her, blown away on the wind.

"I don't know how much I can limit my strength these days. I think he'd get hurt. The last couple of months, when I start thinking of fighting, something changes in my hands. They just... go through things. I wonder if it's something in the way Iruka-sensei is teaching me? I can always will it to come out, but I can't always stop it when I don't need it."

At that, Lee had to nod. When they sparred with her, only Naruto could go one-on-one with Sakaki at this point. Everyone else, Neji and him, Osaka and Chiyo-chan, they had to team up, at least three of them at a time. And they were far ahead of everyone else in the Academy. Even at the Dojo, the only ones left who could train with her were the masters, Iruka-sensei, Eikichi-sensei, and Nagano-sempai, most senior of the civilian students.

"Naruto's turning out good, isn't he?" Lee murmured. "He's very close to being able to sense through his light, and he can change it now to other primary colors. Soon, he can make something like illusions. Do you think he understands the endpoint of what Chiyo's trying to get him to do?"

"Probably not. He's not a thinker - but he'll surprise us with what he comes up with, when he does get there. He will be very powerful."

"Hehe, you think he could make Hokage? Since meeting you, sometimes he lets it slip - 'I understand what this power is for now,' 'I wonder if being Hokage is worthwhile,' and such."

"A Hokage that can't use normal jutsu - it could happen, if it's Naruto. The Yondaime... what he did to the Kyuubi and his son, it's incredible."

She looked at the watch on her wrist.

"I wonder what's keeping Chiyo-chan. Visiting hours at the hospital will be over soon if we don't get going."

"It is getting late, isn't it?"

Their stride halted, and they looked at each other. Mihama Chiyo was never late. Not in all the time they'd known her. And when it had something to do with her mother...

"Get them going, Lee. I'll go on to the hospital, and check her workplaces. You guys look around the Academy grounds."