During our sixth year in The Academy, one of the electives we'd had the option to take was Medical Ninjutsu.

Sakura and I had both taken it; me because I'd decided that knowing how to treat myself would be useful, and Sakura probably because she'd known that it would be an easy pass for her.

Naruto had taken Advanced Tracking Trapping, a course that he'd barely lost to Shino Aburame in to come out second place (something that I only know of because the idiot had refused to quit whining about it).

Taking Medical Ninjutsu in The Academy usually means learning a single technique; The Mystical Palm Technique.

It is a relatively simple albeit (as with all Medical Ninjutsu techniques) difficult jutsu that can be used to scan and promote healing in most biological organisms.

Sakura and I had learnt two; the Mystical Palm and the Chakra Scalpel.

All of this is to explain why, after their fight ends and I offer to take them to lunch, I briefly consider telling Sakura to heal Naruto's swelling, fractured jaw.

A moment of thought dissuades me of that though, so I reach out to Naruto instead.

"Let me heal you," I say.

The boy looks at me oddly. "Your sharingan's still on," he says.

I blink. Oh.

With a thought, I turn of my dōjutsu, and the world blurs and grays before me as the quality of my vision plummets.

Caleb's memories tell me that it's like suddenly switching from a 4k ultra HD movie on a 40-inch TV screen, to a shitty 240p YouTube video on a smartphone. Something that he has an odd amount of experience with.

I refrain from blinking forcefully with the ease of long practice; the effect is annoying and always takes several seconds to pass, but pass it will.

Naruto acts weird when I place a green-glowing hand on his wounded jaw, and it takes me a second to realize that he's confused that I'm (from his perspective) being nice to him.

That's good. A confused Naruto is an easier-to-manage Naruto.

I'll try to keep him that way; though it'll undoubtedly be a balancing act seeing as if I go too far he's likely to react with irritation and bullheadedness.

Naruto's injuries are rather serious, for a civilian. For a ninja, especially one as hardy as this particular knucklehead, it'll likely be fully healed in about a week.

With the Mystical Palm, Naruto simply has to tolerate being touched by his proclaimed 'rival' for about a minute.

Visibly, the swelling in Naruto's jaw lessens and I sense his jaw begin to heal, physically aiding it along by pressing the bones together with my fingers.

There are a few other scrapes and bruises all over him, and heal those too while I'm at it.

Well, that's not quite accurate; I'm not healing Naruto. The Mystical Palm can't do that. What it actually does is use my chakra to encourage Naruto's chakra to fix his body as quickly and smoothly as it can.

That's why the technique is so difficult, because if I mess it up, even by the tiniest bit, Naruto's body will immediately reject my chakra. And it probably won't accept it again. Not for a good long while.

It's why The Mystical Palm shines best when used on oneself. No risk of rejection then.

Almost a minute on the dot, I let go of Naruto, and the boy massages his jaw.

"Thanks," he says, sounding like the words physically hurt him.

"You're lucky Sasuke's so nice," Sakura says. "I would have left you with the wound."

I turn to her and notice that she's pouting, and also that her scrapes and bumps are conspicuously still present.

I may not know much about Sakura, but I (and pretty much everyone else) know how much she cares for her skin and hair. And since healing those light wounds would be a trivial matter for her, it's rather obvious what she wants.

Sakura gives me a look, trying to ask what I know she's asking for without actually saying the words to ask for it.

I consider ignoring her, but then I change my mind.

She's... earned it. And besides, good behaviour should be rewarded.

I walk up to Sakura and place a hand on her cheek, and the girl practically shivers at my touch, eyes fluttering close as my chakra enters her system.

I almost roll my eyes at her behaviour, but then I remember her as she was barely a minute ago, when she took a blast of Naruto's chakra to the face and fought on anyway.

I remember her as she was in a cartoon that mirrors my life; powerful, confident... maybe even beautiful.

I've always known that Sakura has the potential to become truly strong, but I've never really been aware of it.

Until now.

Light as they are, Sakura's wounds barely take ten seconds to heal, and I'm about to pull back when Naruto, apparently unable to hold back anymore, says; "Oi, bastard, her wounds are healed. Let her go already."

I'm already pulling back before Naruto speaks, but the timing of the two end up coinciding in such a way that it looks like I only pull back because he speaks.

Great.

Sakura's eyes slam open, her small moment of bliss interrupted, and her enraged eyes quickly find the 'cause'.

"Naruto!"

I grab the girl on the shoulder before she can storm past me.

Fuck me, I can't believe this has become my position on this team.

Peacemaker.

Unfortunately, if I want to make them into something useful to me, then what choice do I have?

"That's enough. We're teammates," I say, making sure to use an inclusive pronoun like 'we'. "If you guys want to beat up each other, then I'm making it an official spar.

"Unfortunately for the both of you, you only get one of those a day. Now go and clean yourselves up so we can head to lunch."

Sakura looks chastised, and even Naruto doesn't look as mutinous as I would expect at my taking charge. Although that's probably because he just hasn't picked up on it yet.

Sakura moves first, heading to the roof access door, most likely to clean up like I said. Naruto follows.

I restrain a sigh.

It's barely been a day and I'm already regretting getting these memories, beneficial as they may be.

I miss the good old days when I hated the world and ignored everyone.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared into his crystal ball; one of the most valuable objects owned by The Leaf.

"Hmm," the wizened ninja intoned.

He'd expected some friction between Naruto and his teammates; he'd expected Sakura to be heavily biased in her opinion of the two boys; Sasuke though...

"Hmm," The Third Hokage intoned again, fingers running through his beard.

Thanks for reading.

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Take care.