A/N: So, uh, is it obvious that I have no idea what I'm doing yet?

I'll be honest, I had plans for when Natsu was gonna have his Dragon Slayer magic back in full, but the end of last chapter had me debating CHANGING those plans.

I actually spent a good ten or so minutes just talking out my original idea (aka have the magic come back a little further down the road) and my new idea (aka have the magic come back now) with my roommate, before she said she thought my original idea was actually really good and to stick with it, and just have the explosion be more due to the kyuubi than the magic.

Of course, she's never watched/read Fairy Tail in her life, so in order to fully explain both ideas, I had to fully explain (to the best of my knowledge, via spoilers), Natsu's entire backstory.

And then of course, she FINALLY realized why I love Zeref so much I cosplay him every year at con.

ITS SO TRAGIC AND I LOVE TRAGIC CHARACTERS AND HE DESERVES LOVE AND CUDDLES.

Anyway, brainstorming was done, ideas were decided upon, and this is what you've got!

Enjoy! And as always, thanks for reading!

Kakashi doesn't think too much of it, when Natsu goes over to help Naruto. If anything, he might just be grateful, because he's explained the issue to Naruto a dozen times already and the blond still doesn't get it. Sasuke at least understood, taking the instructions and running with them, steadily making progress, so clearly his instructions weren't the issue here!

Naruto just shrieks about how that's what he was doing already, then proceeds to make the same mistakes all over again, completely disregarding Kakashi's advice.

Before Natsu walked over, he may have been debating more… intense methods of encouragement for Naruto. Like strangulation. Or kunai practice. And since Natsu had (somewhat dubiously) proven himself the most mature member of Team 7, he wanders over to Sasuke to give some more tips, and leaves the two of them to figure it out on their own. Maybe his pink-haired brat can dumb it down some more.

His ability to overthinka substitution doesn't inspire much confidence, though.

It's a sharp, unpleasant feeling in his gut that has him turning, pulling up his headband and instinctively marking the positions of all his students as he scans for the danger-

It takes half an instant too long to realize the danger was leaving Naruto and Natsu unsupervised, as Natsu's chakra gently weaves around Naruto's, the blond already calling up a surge of his own, red flecks dancing down his arm, following the stream of chakra-

A clone pops into existence instantly, lunging for Sasuke and pulling him away as Kakashi throws himself towards his two idiots, desperately pulling them apart as everything explodes.

Kami-sama, but Kakashi hates children.

It's hot.

As Kakashi throws him away from Naruto, Natsu can't do anything but stare at the red blisters already forming on his hand as it burns. The fire licks at his flesh, hot and fierce, and the sensation is so unusual he can't even react.

Natsu doesn't even remember the last time he burned. He skids in the dirt, bracing himself with his left hand and that burns too, an entirely different sort of burn, the burn of a stressed injury, more familiar, more normal than the actual burn that licks up and down his right hand. He drags his eyes away, looks up, sees Naruto curled over his stomach, clutching it and mouthing what looks like, "no" over and over and over again.

Kakashi isn't touching him.

Naruto is hurt, curling over himself, practically fetal, and Kakashi is very deliberately not touching him, and Natsu has no idea what happened, not really, only knows that there was… something else in Naruto's chakra, something weird and weirdly familiar all in one, and that it didn't like him touching it.

So he suppresses Sakura-chan's chakra as deep as he can, pushes to his feet, and bolts to his blond teammate. Kakashi steps forward to stop him, and Natsu tries to shove him aside, glaring when the man doesn't budge.

"If you don't care enough to see if he's alright, then I'm gonna!" He snarls, slipping under Kakashi's outstretched arm, heedless of the shock bleeding across the man's face as he drops to his knees next to Naruto and carefully touches his arm.

Nothing burns or explodes, and Natsu knew it wouldn't but still breathes a sigh of relief as he slowly tugs the blond's arm aside.

"Come on, stop fightin' me, lemme see if it's alright." He mumbles softly, and Naruto blinks dazedly up at him. His eyes are weirdly closer to purple than their normal sky blue.

"N-Natsuu…?"

"Yeah, it's me. You okay? C'mon, lemme see where you're hurt-" he manages to pull Naruto's arms aside, and gets his fingers around the hems of the blond's shirt.

"No!"

Naruto kicks at him, bracing himself and kicking up at Natsu's face and the pinkette dodges on reflex, stepping back and away as Naruto scrambles to his feet, desperately pulling his shirt down and hugging himself tight and curling over himself.

Natsu holds up his hands, because that's not a normal reaction, and definitely not a good one, so he tries to make himself as soft as possible. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you, and I'm bein' careful with my chakra, it won't explode like that again. Just wanna see where you're hurt. Naruto?"

The blond shakes his head, not saying anything, arms tight around his stomach. In the shadows of his hair, Natsu realizes his eyes aren't just purple, but slightly glowing.

Kakashi's hand comes to rest softly on his shoulder. "It's alright Natsu. He's not hurt-"

"Like hell he's not! He's clearly in pain you-!"

Kakashi sighs. "He's not hurt anywhere you or I can fix. His chakra's just… maa, a little more unstable than most peoples'. If I'd realized you were going to try and help him like that…" He sighs again, shakes his head slightly, "He'll be fine after a couple minutes on his own. Come on, let me take a look at that hand, ne?"

Natsu jerks his shoulder away, glaring. "Bullshit! You don't just- I'm not gonna leave him alone! If I can't help fix it then I'll just stay here until he feels better, and you can fix this right here too!" he waves his hand flippantly, grimacing at the uncomfortable feeling of burned flesh. It's hardly important when something about Naruto's chakra reacted to him, and he reacted back.

If he could talk to Sakura-chan right now, he's sure she'd say something about how the door cracked open before slamming closed again, because he can feel his magic, coasting above Sakura's own chakra, a small amount but undeniably there.

He wants to use it, call it up and feel his own fire flickering comfortingly in his hands, to just let it burn, warm and fierce and free, but if he only has that little bit to him until they find out how to fix the whole mess with his magic and that door, then he's gonna save it 'til it's useful, a surprise weapon in a fight or something else-

Wants to know if it was just a fluke, or if his own fire would burn him because Sakura's body is just that incompatible, wants to-needs to know if he can still control it. Needs to know what would happen if he can't.

He shakes his head, pushing aside those concerns. If Kakashi's right, and that Zabu-guy is still alive, he'll have plenty of time to figure out how Sakura-chan's body responds to his magic then. For now…

He walks forward, grabs Naruto's elbow, and pulls the blond down to sit next to him in the dirt. Naruto flinches, and Natsu decides to just ignore that, holding up his burned hand for Kakashi to look at.

The sensei sighs, lone eye rolling towards the heavens, before he walks over and pulls out his medkit. A second Kakashi comes out of the bushes, Sasuke following behind with a scowl on his face but something curious in his eyes.

He doesn't say anything, just turns to find a tree that isn't flash-burned, and resumes his practice. The clone bustles about, putting out the various fires that flicker around the clearing as the real Kakashi rubs a sweet-smelling salve into the skin of Natsu's hand.

It feels like liquid ice, spreading waves of unnatural coolness everywhere it touches, and Natsu has to fight not to pull his hand away from the uncomfortable chill. When he's done, Kakashi turns Natsu's hand over and back, inspecting it, before he sighs.

"That should have burned you a lot more than it did. This doesn't even really need bandages, it'll probably be cleared up within two days, that-" he shakes his head, bemused, "I understand why Naruto's not physically affected, when it was mostly his chakra that exploded, but you should be much worse off."

Natsu shrugs, offering a cheeky grin. "Peh! Honestly, I'm surprised I got burned at all! I'm not complaining!"

Kakashi narrows his eye, but Natsu just grins some more and shifts closer to Naruto. He doesn't touch the blond, just sits next to him and smiles a bit.

"You okay? I didn't… well, I didn't even realize trying to show you like that could explode, though maybe I should have suspected..." He can't help but mutter the last part under his breath, because he really doesn't tend to go so long without blowing something up (usually the Guild hall… if Erza's not around), but his explosions also don't tend to hurt people… Or himself, for that matter.

As long as Erza's not around.

He sighs, propping his chin on his palm and ignoring the uncomfortable sensation that spreads from it. Whatever Kakashi put on his hand, it doesn't hurt, and that's good enough for him. Kakashi retreats a little ways away, giving them privacy while keeping an eye on them, and Natsu feels his brow twitch.

Is he not gonna leave at all?! It wasn't even that big of an explosion! Just cause I got a little burned!?

Naruto speaks up then, before Natsu can decide to get up and yell at their sensei.

"Y-you're okay too, right? I… I didn't hurt you much?"

Natsu sits up, turning to look at Naruto even as he waves away the question. "I'm fine, promise. I've totally had worse."

Naruto hugs himself, clearly nervous, knees drawn up to his chest. "I. There was. Um." He stutters, glancing up at Natsu and then away. "Are you… like me?"

Natsu tilts his head to the side, and tries to catch Naruto's gaze. In his peripherals, Kakashi straightens, eye focusing on them. "I dunno. What's it mean to be 'like you'? No one's ever said, even though everyone's still acting weird about you."

Naruto bites his lip, then jumps up. "Ehehehe, you'd know already if you were, I guess! It was just… uh, you know, I dunno, something weird! Yup! I'm just being weird, dattebayo!" He claps his hands and quickly brushes dirt off himself, then turns to flash Natsu a thumbs up.

"Thanks for trying to help, ehehe! But for now I'll just keep practicing I guess!"

Natsu blinks as the blond runs off, to the nearest tree, and starts running up it.

He gets the feeling he's really missed something with this whole conversation, and narrows his eyes as he tries to figure it out.

He's known something was up with Naruto for a while, was content to poke at the mystery here and there, but dammit now he needs to know!

I'll figure it out before we finish this mission! Absolutely!

Straight-up asking Kakashi does no good. The sensei just hums consideringly, then pulls out his book and starts giggling.

Naruto stutters, changes the topic, and finds an excuse to leave if he keeps pushing.

Sasuke, surprisingly, had no clue there was even something to find, though after Natsu lays out all the evidence he has, the Uchiha grunts consideringly and starts playing with his Sharingan around the blond.

Apparently, there's something weird with Naruto's chakra. Sometimes, most often later in the training, after he's burned a lot of it, it will start to develop red flecks. Red flecks no one else has, though Natsu's not sure that's saying much when the only other people around for Sasuke to watch are him and Kakashi.

Their team interactions are awkward, for a while - after all Natsu's questions Naruto becomes skittish, and Kakashi suspicious, though when he gives up asking they both slowly relax. His hand heals entirely after three days, and even his arm feels much better, no longer burning every time he moves it. The edges of the wound have already begun looking more like the scar Sakura-chan had the last time he visited the mindscape, and his range of motion gradually increases as he spends his time tree-walking and going through stretching exercises. As his hand recovers, he starts practicing the bunshin again - with his issues with the substitution being one of overthinking the jutsu, he tries to just imagine one popping into existence, and gets a weirdly washed-out thing that doesn't move at all.

Apparently there's a line between overthinking and underthinking.

Natsu already hates the jutsu with every fiber of his being.

Sasuke gets the hang of tree-walking by the second day, and Kakashi starts talking him through exercises to help him get used to using his Sharingan more effectively. It looks like a glorified game of I-Spy to Natsu, but he figures there must be something more to it, cause otherwise he's pretty sure even someone like Sasuke could figure it out on their own.

Natsu really has no idea how to help Naruto, not with his first option blown out of the water, he's never been an 'advice' sorta person, unless that advice is, "Never give up!", which… Naruto doesn't really need. But the blond has a single-minded determination that's truly impressive, trying again and again and again, and Natsu knows he'll figure it out sooner or later.

Probably before he figures out how he's supposed to be focusing his 'spirit chakra' for this stupid bunshin, at any rate.

The week crawls by, a monotony of training broken only by covert meetings with Sasuke as they try and put together everything they know about Naruto. Of course, aside from his fancy eyes, Sasuke's practically useless, because he doesn't have anything interesting to say regarding Naruto's academy days outside of, "The teachers didn't like him. Even Iruka, at first." which.

Is not helpful. At all.

Natsu sulks, sprawling over the table as he waits for food. Five days with nothing to show for it on the Naruto front. He eyes the blond from across the table as Tsunami-san brings out the food.

Maybe he isn't approaching it right?

(Natsu's preferred method of interrogation involves fire and lots of it, and he knows it. But he'll figure this out. Somehow.)

He eats practically on autopilot as he considers options, turning them over in his mind and trying not to feel like his brain is leaking out between his ears.

Sasuke of all people actually gives him a concerned glance, so he's not too sure he's succeeding on that front, but some things are worth thinking through!

It's the yelling that snaps him out of his dazed attempt at thinking, as the little brat- the old man's grandkid, Ina-something? Runs out of the room, and Tsunami-san chases him. Tazuna starts crying then, not wracking sobs, just quiet tears that he notices mostly through scent, and hesitantly starts telling a story.

Natsu's a little lost, having not paid attention before, but…

He talks about Inari's father, not by blood but by choice, and Natsu thinks painfully of Igneel, thinks of the little kid that lurks around but never interacts with them and the shadows in his eyes, and he already knows it won't end well.

"Kaiza was… a true hero," Tazuna says, voice hoarse with tears, "He wasn't native to Wave, but he came to love this place as fiercely as any of us who were born here. He saved Inari, became Inari's personal hero, long before the dangerous storm that lead him to risking his life to save our village as well. Inari loved him as fiercely as anything, maybe because he never knew his birth father, and looked up to Kaiza… even Tsunami and I came to call him family, he just… belonged with us, he never replaced my son-in-law, just made a new place all his own, and he was family." Tazuna chokes, taking a deep breath and wiping futilely at his eyes.

"When the storm came through and the village started flooding, he risked his life to save it, and everyone called him a hero then. Our hero, the hero of Wave-! We were… happy."

"And then Gato came," Kakashi interjects softly, giving Tazuna a moment to gather himself. The old man nods.

"He did. And- and Kaiza was a hero, our hero, and he opposed a lot of the awful things Gato tried to do. And all of us looked up to him, so when he tried to fight the village did too. Everyone supported him. S-so…"

Tazuna's entire frame shakes as he hunches over himself, crying into the table. The room settles into an uncomfortable silence, as everyone waits for him to find the strength to talk.

"G-Gato…" he starts, voice lowering, "decided to make an example of him. H-he… he had Kaiza's arms cut off, both of them! A-and then crucified him in the public square, dragged everyone from their homes to make them look, to watch as he had his men split Kaiza's gut open and l-leave him to bleed out from that cross-!"

His voice drops to a trembling whisper. "Ever since… Inari lost his ability to believe in heroes. And the village, they lost their strength to fight, no one even tried to as Gato's policies got more and more barbaric… Everyone learned to live with their eyes on the ground, hoping they wouldn't catch his attention and be the next ones to go…"

"That-!" Naruto stands up, stool tumbling as he plants a hand on the table. "That's awful! But we can fix this! We'll make sure your bridge gets built! We'll beat that Zabuza guy and anyone else Gato hires! And then we'll beat Gato too! We can show Inari! There are still heroes in this world!"

Naruto's eyes overflow with determination, like he's daring the world to prove him wrong, and Natsu grins at the sight of it, as he tries not to think about the fact that Naruto really hasn't thought that through.

Every new thing he hears about Gato only makes it more clear, that the man won't let his grip on Wave go while he's still alive.

As Naruto bolts out of the house, shouting back his intention to train even more, Natsu can't help wondering how he'll react, once he realizes what helping Wave really means.

Natsu's pretty sure he won't turn his back on the village, but then, Natsu won't either.

It won't make it any easier to live with, once everything's said and done.