Time: 6 am.
Place: A few hours tree jumping away from the Hidden Leaf.
"AAARGH!" Screamed Naruto "Sakura-chan, take it easy!"
"Oh, I am taking it easy. If I wasnt, Id be breaking your legs and Id have to carry you back to the leaf! What were you thinking?!" Asked Sakura.
The wound was pretty nasty. It wasnt life threatening, even for regular people who didnt heal as fast as Naruto. It was however, big, painful and prone to get infected if left alone. Hed probably have to avoid using that right arm for a few hours, even accounting for his accelerated healing.
"Hey, I just saw a kunai flying in your direction and I jumped!" Naruto countered. "Pure instinct."
"Oh, instinct? You idiot. Every square meter of that place had one of your clones transformed. Why not use them instead of the real you?" Sakura asked, perplexed. "In fact, why not throw another kunai to deflect the flying one? Or better yet, let me handle it! Im not some delicate flower, you know? Im pretty sure I could handle a kunai flying my way!"
"I know, Sakura-chan, but… I dont know, I just dont like you getting hurt!" Naruto said
"Well, I dont like you getting hurt either, idiot!" Woah… Where did that come from?
Well, of course she doesnt like Naruto getting hurt. Hes her friend, hes been there for her without fail whenever she needed it, no questions asked. Its just what he does. He helps people, he befriends them and all of a sudden, hes willing to lay his life down for them. Thats just how Naruto operates on a fundamental level.
And front and center of that list of people is her, for some reason.
No one in their right mind would like Naruto getting hurt.
But she didnt have to say it like that, so open, so… decided.
Why did she do that?
"Well… uh… I mean, Im the one that has to patch you up every time, remember?" Sakura concluded.
"Yeah, sorry about that" He flashed one of those trademark Naruto smiles at her. "Still, nice to know that you care"
So warm, so unabashed. Why does he look at her like that?
And why is she reacting differently to it now? Well, no time for that train of thought. Kakashi will be back any minute now. So…
"AAAAAAARGH! COME ON!" Naruto yelled in pain, as Sakura removed the Kunai in one swift move.
"You were distracted. Best time to do it." She said "Aaaand, what are you doing?"
She said as she noticed Naruto taking off his shirt
"Well, I have to take it off so it its not in the way. I mean, youre gonna stitch me up, right?" Naruto said in a pretty straightforward way.
"Uh… yeah. Just caught me off guard, for some reason" Sakura said.
It was routine for them. Hed get hurt, shed patch him up and that usually involved some level of clothing removal on his end. Hed just never did it without her asking him before.
But hey, hes being non-chalant and casual about it. Which makes perfect sense he would eventually, considering how frequent this is.
"Okay, relax your arm and Ill do my thing. It will sting." Sakura said, in her professional voice.
She is a medical ninja. Patching people up is her job. Shes seen pretty much half the village in various stages of undress before and everyone has always been casual about it, treating it as they should: part of the procedure.
But no shirtless man was a more frequent sight to her than Naruto. But as she touched his arm, she started to feel… different about it.
He trains all the time. Probably just not as much as Lee or Guy, but hes constantly training. Of course, he has pretty well-defined muscles, even if hes on the slimmer side of the equation.
But its like shes actually looking at them for the first time. Those strong arms, toned stomach and hard chest…
So muscular, so…
'Yes, perv away, outer self, look at that hunk of muscles! Cha!'
Said Inner Sakura.
'Im not perving on him, but Im not blind either.' Answered actual Sakura.
"Uh, Sakura-chan? You okay?" Naruto asked, breaking her train of thought.
"Yeah, just got lost in thought." She answered. "I was thinking about this other thing."
"What other thing? AAAAAAAAH! This hurts!" Naruto yelled as Sakura applied the disinfectant.
"Now hold still, Im going to stich you up." She said, with a smirk, grateful he was probably not gonna ask any more on her distraction.
As she stitched him, she had one question in her mind.
"Why do you do it?" Asked Sakura
"What? Scream like this? Because it hurts!" Naruto answered
"No, idiot. Why do you risk yourself like that?" Sakura said. "Youre always jumping into danger without a second thought. You could just… be a little more careful"
"Ah, its no big deal, Sakura-chan. I can take it, right? I heal pretty fast." She could almost hear a 'and you dont. None of you do' implied there.
"Still, you could be more careful. One of these days, you might get yourself into more trouble than you can handle" Sakura countered. "Why? Is it because of your 'ninja way'?"
"Yeah, I mean… If Im gonna be Hokage, I have to protect the village. What kind of Hokage cant even protect his friends?" He said, with a smile.
But one question lingered, deep in her mind. 'Is it because its me?'
"Well, I guess its just second nature to you. You just do it because youre Naruto." Sakura said
"Yeah" Naruto said "And you call me an idiot while you patch me up because youre Sakura-chan, datebayo!"
That struck a chord with her. He was right. She patches him up and calls him an idiot, every step of the way. Just as it is second nature to him, it is to her.
Why?
Come to think of it, Naruto isnt a complete idiot in first aid. He could probably patch himself up with some degree of functionality without her. Sure, he wouldnt be able to do the stitches, but a simple disinfectant and bandages might have done the trick until he reached the hidden leaf and gone to the hospital. Or, you know, the nine tails healed him.
But she never lets him do it, does she? She patches him up herself every chance she gets.
'ohohohoho, so were finally starting to have THAT conversation now'
Inner Sakura interjected.
'Shut up, inner, this isnt what you think.' Sakura responded
'Im literally you, so thats pretty impossible. But Ill let you stew on it for a while longer before I say anything else. Have fun, cha!'
Inner said, signing off as Sakura finished stitching up Naruto and ending that train of thought, hoping it wouldnt come up again anytime soon.
"There, all done. Now, put your shirt back on and lets wait for…" Sakura said, as she was interrupted by the sight of a masked man with white hair dropping next to them
"You two done? We need to move fast. I have a safe path back to the Leaf Village, but theres a group of bandits coming in our direction" Kakashi said, in a no no-nonsense manner. "Ill be in the front of the formation, you two behind me. Even with that wound, Naruto can still guard our flanks while I use my sharingan to look forward and Sakura guards our backs. Put on your shirt and let's move."
Naruto did so without much ado and jumped into the trees.
"How long till we get there, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked
"Well probably be there by noon. Were not that far, but the safest route is pretty out of the way" Kakashi said. "Theres a group I couldnt see very well on the main road and a few scattered bandits in other directions. Well have to go around them. And in silence"
They did so. They were moving fast, but quiet, jumping from tree to tree and changing directions almost at random as Kakashi did.
The formation was simple: Kakashi on the front, Naruto and Sakura side by side behind them.
She was resumed her train of thought from earlier. Why is she suddenly looking at Naruto differently? Did he do something different?
Of course not, everything he did since they got out of the Hidden Leaf was pretty "Naruto". Every single move and word out of his mouth was exactly what she expected from him. Is it because of the stunt he pulled protecting her? It shouldnt be, its a pretty common occurrence for Naruto to treat himself and his clones like an army of crash test dummies for the safety of his friends. Well, mostly her. He went face to face with a freaking Tailed Beast who had absolutely crushed Lee and Sasuke for her safety, for Kamis sake! If there was ever a time when she was ever gonna look at him differently, it should have been back then.
At any rate, what is there to look at differently? Its just Naruto.
Wait, thats too dismissive.
Hes her best friend, one of the people she trusts the most, blindly even.
Imagine the absolute worst nightmare scenario. Sakuras worst day ever, on this earth, who could she count on to be by her side, no questions asked? Well, theres a lot of people on that list. Tsunade-shishou, most of their friends, Kakashi-Sensei, her parents…
But Naruto would come running to her aid as fast as he could, that much she knows about him.
If that idiot says hes gonna do something, then hes gonna do it or die trying. Its his ninja way. And he said, repeatedly, that hed always be there for her, keep her safe, help her out…
And he has yet to fail that promise. Of course, shes fond of him, who wouldnt be? Goes without saying.
Hes a freaking endless well of caring and determination, mostly directed at her.
But hes still just her friend, right? Nothing more.
Nothing at all…
…
…
Okay, hes also handsome. No, thats not going too far, friends can notice that sort of thing without having a crush, all it takes is a functioning pair of eyes.
Blond hair, blue eyes, nice face and a good physique, courtesy of training every chance he gets to do so.
And he is quite charming with that freaking dope smile of his, flashed frequently at every possible direction. Charismatic too, no one has that knack for simply collecting friends everywhere he goes.
Its easy to understand why Hinata is so crazy about him.
And the moron doesnt even notice her, clueless that he is. The Hyuga princess does everything short of laying spread eagle with a neon sign pointing to her body and written "Naruto-kuns personal playground" to get his attention but hes too clueless and self-deprecating to even entertain the idea for more than half a second.
Because he is self-deprecating. To a ridiculous amount.
Is he even aware that a good chunk of what got Sasuke to have a mental breakdown and leave the village was getting jealous that Naruto was getting stronger than him?
Or that the main goal Sakura had when she asked Tsunade to be her master was simply not being a burden on the team when Naruto returned from his travels with Jiraya?
Is he aware of just how often the girls in the village cast lingering looks at him whenever he walks by?
Just as aware as he is of Hinatas crush, probably.
All it would take is for Naruto to flash that charming dope smile at her for longer than two seconds and shed be on top of him so fast and so often he wouldnt have the headspace or the energy to even remember the color of Sakuras hair, let alone keep that freaking "chan" honorific at the end of her name.
…
…
…
Okay, this is new.
And weird.
Very, very weird.
Why does that hurt? Why does the idea of Naruto no longer calling her Sakura-chan feels… Wrong?
As if it shouldnt happen? Ever?
'Because youre the one who should be on top of him, not that blank eye Hyuga floozy, cha!'
'Shut up, inner me, this isnt funny!' Sakura argued with herself.
'Still not there yet? Dont worry. Ill GET us there soon enough'
'If you pull some stunt, Im gonna…'
Sakuras little debate with herself was interrupted by the noise of an extra pair of feet, suddenly stepping on a tree to her left and running away in some direction.
Her first reaction was to look that way, seeing one Naruto going away from them and the other looking at her and Kakashi.
Moving his lips, but making no sound he said "heard noise. Sent clone" why gesturing in that direction.
It was a little trick they learned. They can read each others lips for when they need to communicate silently. They cant read everyone elses lips that well, only each other, due to close proximity.
Kakashi, looking at them and reading Narutos lips with the Sharingan, pointed at his own forehead in a gesture that meant 'good thinking'.
"Do what? Go there?" Sakura asked
Kakashi just swinged his fingers side to side, meaning 'no'
"Wait for clone?" Naruto mouthed.
Kakashi pointed his thumbs up, meaning 'yes'.
"Stop?" Sakura mouthed
Kakashi pointed his thumbs up again.
They waited for a while until Naruto made a gesture with his hands meaning 'the clone just vanished'.
"How many?" Sakura asked. Naruto proceeded to make numbers with his fingers and mouth words.
7 "masked, armed" 2 "horses" 1 "carriage. Big! Headed Leaf!"
"Check out?" Sakura mouthed to Kakashi who gave a thumbs up.
They silently walked closer to the party, that was exactly like Naruto said: Seven men, masked and armed, two horses pulling one big carriage on the main road that leads to Konoha. Two in the front, two on the side of the carriage and two in the back, one on top of the carriage looking in every direction.
They all had swords on their hips and looked pretty intimidating. It looked like a bunch of bandits carrying something.
"What now?" Mouthed Sakura to Kakashi.
Kakashi made a gesture as if he was casting a fishing rod, meaning 'bait'. Then, he wagged his finger meaning 'no' and made a fist meaning 'Attack'.
Naruto made a gesture pointing to the three of them, meaning 'which of us?'
Kakashi pointed at Naruto, then at his own right arm, asking how Narutos arm was.
"Painful. Still works" Mouthed Naruto.
"Send clone. Friendly" Mouthed Sakura to him.
Naruto did so, as one of his clones jumped down from the trees and into the main road.
As Naruto approached the group, he went into a very friendly demeanor, smiles and charisma running high.
"Hey, guys. Im looking for the Hidden Leaf, is this…"
He was cut off by the seven men drawing their swords and going to his direction, ready for a fight.
Before they could even come close to Naruto, a pink flash hit one of them in the face and a masked man with white hair kicked the other.
Just then, as they were ready for a fight, they heard a fierce scream. A raspy voice, with a certain baritone quality screaming "STOP!" while a wall of sand erupted between the two groups.
A man with red hair, dark red clothes and a kanji tattooed on his forehead climbed down from the carriage.
"Were heading for the Hidden Leaf. One of our most trusted allies. A man with a Leaf ninja headband asks for directions and this is how you treat him?" Asked Gaara, The Kazekage of the Hidden Sand.
"Kazekage-Sama, we were just…" One of the men said, before being cut with
"Save it. We can talk about this later." Gaara said. "And the three of you can come out now, we know these are not you."
'Naruto', 'Sakura' and 'Kakashi' vanished before their real selves jumped down from the trees.
"GAARA!" The real Naruto yelled, with friendliness. "What are you doing here? We havent seen you in ages"
"Naruto." Gaara said "Sakura. Kakashi. It is good to see you all. Are you returning from a mission?"
"Yes. One that involved some of your rogue ninjas, actually." Said Kakashi. "They should be knocked out a few miles in that direction."
Gaara nodded at two of his men, who went into the direction Kakashi was pointing at.
"What are you doing here? Are you going to the Leaf?" Asked Sakura.
"Yes" Answered Gaara. "My carriage has plenty of space, if you wish to save yourselves the walk."
"We have to give this scroll to Granny Tsunade pretty fast, so were sticking to the trees" Answered Naruto. "But hey, are you free tonight? We could hang out after your done being a Kage"
"Perhaps I will be." Gaara answered, showing a rare smile "What do you have in mind?"
Naruto flashed a mischievous grin that got Sakura worried.
'What the hell is he up to?' She thought.
"Oh, its a surprise. When youre done, look for Shikamaru and hell explain everything." Naruto answered. "Ask him if the Seconds Eye is shining. Hell know what its about."
"The Seconds Eye…" Said Kakashi "WAIT, DONT TELL ME YOU FOUND THE…"
"Yep. Grand reopening tonight, datebayo!" Answered Naruto.
"Wait, Seconds Eye? Whats this all about?" Asked Sakura, confused.
"Dont worry. Youll see." Said Naruto, flashing her a grin. "Trust me, this is gooood."
"Well, it was bound to happen at some point." Kakashi said "Sorry for the hassle, Kazekage-sama. We saw armed men on the road to Konoha and had to assess it."
"Yeah, you guys are lucky there wasnt a fight" Said one of Gaaras armed escort.
"Lucky?" Gaara said with a smirk. "You are the lucky ones, Goro. I know from personal experience that underestimating Naruto tends to get people hospitalized."
Naruto just stood there awkwardly.
"Yeah, that tends to happen a lot" Said Kakashi. "Anyway, well see you at the Hidden Leaf."
"Bye Gaara. And remember: the Seconds Eye is shining!" Naruto said jumping back into the trees"
As they walked, Sakura got even more curious.
"Whats this whole eye thing all about, Kakashi-sensei?" Asked Sakura.
"Its a secret from our village, buried by our generation ages ago. Im sure Naruto will tell you later." Answered Kakashi. "Bold move, Naruto. Letting a foreign Kage in on it"
"Yeah, he may be a Kage, but hes also just another kid like me." Answered Naruto, more seriously. "Dont you think he needs this? Of all people?"
Gaara. The loner. The one who was shunned by the whole village, Sakura thought to herself, looking at Narutos more serious demeanor.
Yes, Gaara is just a kid like Naruto. Way too much.
Its easy to get all caught up in his antics and forget how much he went through. All the isolation, the mean words…
Well, at least thats in the past. Hes got people now. Hes got friends, teachers…
'Hes got me' She thought. And the thought of being there for Naruto warmed her heart with a fire she didnt understand at the moment.
"Yeah, I guess he does." Kakashi said. "Mind the words of our master of mischief, Naruto."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. 'Dont get caught, kid!'" Said Naruto.
"Oh, Im just gonna ask Tsunade-shishou about it, if you lot are gonna be so secretive about it" Sakura said
"But thats where you are wrong, Sakura." Said Kakashi "No Hokage has ever known about this village secret."
Sakura could see Kakashi get a lingering look at Naruto.
"No one that has been Hokage knows about the Seconds Eye." Kakashi said. "Yet"
Authors note:FORESHADOWING! Rate and review. What do you think this "Seconds eye" is about?