WARNING(S): Canon events mentioned in passing, amputee Sasuke and Naruto

This was a setup for disaster, he determined, when he first caught a glimpse of the string hanging from his student's ring finger.

It was a sweltering day in June and he had decided to take the kids down to the river in a rare bid to relax - just seeing the unbridled joy in their little faces made his old, weary heart swell with warmth as he relaxed in the shade of a tree, the foliage a good cover from the harsh sun as well as protecting him from a chance the kids might splash him.

Instead of the little hellions he was practically raising, they seemed so carefree, so innocent, as they romped and splashed and laughed together - well, Naruto and Sakura were laughing, but Sasuke was smiling, truly smiling , in a way he hardly got to see of the young boy.

As he raised his hands to grip Naruto's, playfully shoving him back into the water, Obito's eye began to itch. As he raised his forehead protector to rub at it, for a split second, almost quicker than he could catch, he saw a glimpse of something red extending from Sasuke's hand.

Panic hit him like a brick; was he bleeding? Had he struck his hand and not noticed? But then he realized, blinking rapidly, that the red thing was gone. And he wondered, pondered hard on it even as the afternoon wore on and the kids curled up on a blanket underneath that tree, unconsciously drawn to each other's presence even deep in dreamland. As usual, Naruto found himself in the middle of the pile, sprawled out with his arms acting as accidental pillows for his teammates, who clutched tightly to his shirt and held him there. Sasuke and Sakura's hands brushed together unconsciously, and out of curiosity, he raised the hitai-ate again and- there it was.

There was a string, tiny, but there, wrapped tightly around Sasuke's finger and- ah, there were two. Three?

One was on his left hand, the other two were a bright, cheerful blue on his right and were easier to spot. One of them was tied firmly around Naruto's middle finger, and the other… faded from sight not far from the index finger it was tied to. There was a fourth swaying uselessly, frayed and worn yet not yet severed. And the one on the left hand… was tied, albeit loosely, to Sakura's left hand.

Oh, he thought then, glancing down at his own frayed and severed strings. Oh, this will not end well.

Time seemed to fly by, a bit too fast for his liking. Already the summer was just about over, and more problems were gathering on the horizon; Orochimaru was moving fast, too fast, his students were progressing too slowly, things were becoming too much -

He had to distract himself. He had to have a distraction otherwise he would lose it all over again, and no amount of visits to the memorial stone would fix it.

Glancing down at Sasuke's left hand, he noted the string was still there, much more tightly wound. It had been a gamble agreeing to train him for the exams all on his own, but if there was anyone still left in Konoha who could train the last Uchiha, it was unfortunately him. Obito's eye ached in its socket at the thought, and he blinked to wet it as Sasuke ate another rice ball. Though he looked like he was thinking about nothing at all, his eyes scanned the landscape Kakashi had chosen for training, still alert even during a break.

Things were going far too fast. Despite his inner voice arguing that at this age Kakashi had seen more men dead than most Jonin ever would, he still wished he could keep the boy relatively innocent, if just for a little longer.

Kakashi's heart clenched in his chest, and he looked back down at his own hand. The strings remained, despite how much he wished they wouldn't.

Sakura and Naruto had grown, was the first thing that he mused upon returning to Konoha. Perhaps not as much as he wished they could, but any progress was progress when it came to preparing them for the cutthroat world they were entering into.

He didn't know when finding the red strings became so easy, but as he looked down at Sakura's hands he found so many, too many tied to each finger. One red and many, many blue ones, each branching out invisibly, some cut or loosely tied, others so tight he for a moment worried about the circulation in her fingers. Naruto was very much the same; when he first met the boy and first encountered this ability he'd found only a mere handful, blue threads so tight the skin practically dipped in those spots. Now his hands were full, and it made his heart swell when he realized just how many bonds he'd managed to create. Hidden among the blue was a single red one, but it was so loose it was nearly falling from the digit. I wonder whose it is, he wondered to himself, before turning back to the pink-haired girl standing next to him.

He almost frowned when he noticed the red string around her ring finger, looped many, many times around. He knew of her infatuation with Sasuke - everyone did - but even now he mourned the paths he knew they were bound to take - his own red string fluttered mindlessly from his finger, a familiar, pretty face smiling in his mind's eye and making his stomach turn.

The first time they managed to take him down, he had been so full of pride he could have smiled all the way home. Naruto and Sakura worked so well together, despite the conspicuous absence of their much-missed third member of Team Seven. Glancing at them he noted that one of the blue strings around their index fingers were looped tightly, connecting to each other.

Good, good, that's all I would've wanted from you. He closed his eyes, head bowed towards the memorial stone. Obito, Rin, if only you could see them…

If only things could have been different. Despite the confidence that seeped from their very bones, he could see just how much his students were hurting inside, as evidenced in their mood whiplash when Sasuke was mentioned. He knew they still blamed themselves for not being able to keep him, and while he knew it wasn't their faults, he couldn't help but sardonically reflect on the familiarity of the situation.

Sakura's red string was still tight as ever, perhaps moreso, threatening to turn the digit purple. She wanted to pretend everything was fine, pretend that she was okay and that she was refusing to let her heart guide her, but he knew her more than he wanted, and he knew the only remedy would be bringing their third teammate home. Naruto's blue string was very much the same, except there was a distinctly disquieting tinge to the skin. He was desperate - they all were - but if he kept this up, the inevitable loss would only be worse to bear.

Why? He often wondered, raising his head skyward in a silent judgment towards the gods. Why would you put them through this? Why would you cause so much pain and suffering towards them? Why bother winding them so tight if there's a high chance he'll never come back?

Why did you give me this ability if you mean to break my heart more than I can bear? How cruel are you hoping to be with me?

He came back.

Against all odds, Naruto managed to drag him home - and despite being down an arm and another man's eye, he came back - and already he could see the difference between all three of them.

Naruto and Sakura were overjoyed, naturally - but there was something in Sasuke, a deep relief, that caused him to do a double-take. The red string was there, loose, but tighter than it had been during his three-year absence. It was still there, stubbornly clinging to his missing digit and connected directly to the young lady still hovering beside him. Naruto's blue string was more invisible than it had been, now, but it still ran from the invisible (missing) limb to Sasuke's right hand, more vibrant and a cheerful shade of blue. There were several severed strings running from the black-haired teenager's right hand, but that only brought relief; he'd just about blanched from horror upon realizing one of them was connected straight to Orochimaru in one of the missions to retrieve him.

Just like that, it was like he never left - except for the still-awkward, festering discomfort and unspoken things, Naruto and Sakura dragged him along, and he tolerated it with a barely-there smile and a quiet fondness that words couldn't express.

Kakashi watched them as they pulled him into the Ichiraku booth, cheerfully apologizing for taking so long, and he shut the Icha-Icha and put it away. Obito's eye may have been gone, but somehow he knew the strings were stronger than ever now that Sasuke had finally opened his heart and allowed them all to come back in.

And as he noticed Sasuke blinking down at his hand, Sharingan activated, his smile grew at the confusion, then understanding, that passed over the boy.

Okay, he thought to himself, noting the softness in Sasuke's face as Sakura chattered on about everything he'd missed since he defected, okay, you win. I see it now.

His old, weary heart seemed to pump with new understanding and a new, quiet relief, one that he never knew he'd wanted, and his own frayed red and blue strings fluttered in the breeze, invisible, but wound tighter than they'd ever been.

A/N: Here we are, the very last one. I have to admit, even though keeping this going was a pain in the ass more often than not, I feel almost sad that the event is over. Ah well, at least I was able to make at least some of you smile.

Let me know what you thought!