6

There were a lot of fences that needed painting in Konoha. A lot. Many.

A great deal, even.

Multitudes.

Plenty.

It was a thought that came to me as I found myself standing in front of one of those fences. The ninth this week. Unpainted. With knots in the wood, here and there, damaging it's already failed aesthetic value. Somewhat uneven at a first glance and a tenth, some planks far too long or far too short; a stint in a woodshop would have helped the builder greatly.

My headband slipped down over my eyes, lightly greased and moistened with the sweat of my brow.

Stupid thing.

I began retying my protector once more with a sigh. With the plate over my forehead and not on top of my head, or around my neck, or wrapped around a shoulder. Where it belonged.

I did it.

It then instantly began to slip in minute increments.

An eye twitched. Frustration mounted, this being only the oldest problem I'd had since the start of my career. Other than the possibility of death and grievous injury in the line of duty, of course.

The damned thing had never fit right... One size fits all, my acceptably tight bottom.

"Haruno," Sasuke grudgingly spoke, the grinding gears of unused vocal chords and lightly-chapped lips separating, sounding their anguish; his brush moved in an arc, covering a tiny expanse of sun-bleached wood with patchy green… It offended me. "Why don't you do what Yamanaka does?"

Naruto, having done an intriguingly smooth circle over the very unsmooth planks he'd been assigned to after he'd been denied the use of shadow clones, raised his head to take us both in with dull interest. What with us being the most interesting event today that hadn't been one of Kakashi's bad excuses, I couldn't blame him.

I know, Naruto. I know. We'd have been done already if I hadn't made a mockery (chakra strings again) of the first time we'd had to paint a fence. I'm sorry. But it wasn't my fault Kakashi-sensei firmly believed in shit rolling downhill. Or that easy work meant bad work. Or that torturing youth would fill that deep pit where everyone he knew and loved had fallen into, never to be seen again.

The justifications for his bitter hatred of his juniors varied. And I'd just been asked a question.

"It's a forehead protector," I answered simply, my brush doing a momentary dip into Sasuke's boundaries to touch up a line he'd failed to clean. his offended glare at my artistic critique. It did nothing. "I shouldn't have to explain this to you. It's in the name."

"And it doesn't fit," was Sasuke's own simple, maddening answer.

Maddening, but true.

My braid got in the way. Or the other way around. Semantics. What it came out to was that the optimal amount of protection I could eke from this headplate on a strip of cloth affected the range of motion and utility that I got from my hair.

And that was just unacceptable. How could I quickly and efficiently remove an enemy ninja's ability to chew food and breathe air without a full windup?

Exactly.

"Your hair is in the way," Sasuke continued, affirming my observation with another arc across the wood in front of him. "You need to get rid of it if-"

I stopped painting and gave him my full attention.

Naruto's features quickly shifted into that of a person who was expecting a fight to break out and had bet money on it; boredom made people into monsters.

I turned to this world's greatest hope next and he hurriedly got back to painting.

"... Hm." Sasuke's cheek twitches, his eyes shifting back towards the fence instead of keeping contact with mine...and I had to wonder what my expression at his suggestion looked like. Currently. Nothing good, I think. It certainly didn't feel good. Kind of achy. "Don't know what to tell you then, Haruno."

Actual solutions, maybe?

"I think it's admirable that she's so aware of her weaknesses and openings," Kakashi, sitting in a tree, contributed his opinion shamelessly. As ever. With his porn book out, what other way could there be but shameless? "A forehead like hers needs to be defended."

…Really?

My lips peeled reflexively away from my teeth. Sasuke blinked sweat out of his eye in the corner of my vision and little else, my focus purely for my asshole of a teacher. "What are you saying, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hoh? What am I saying?" Kakashi lowered his book slightly, showing us his eye. "I'm saying that it would be a shame if a mind like yours was unprotected, is all." The corners of his eye then crinkled in his customary smile. "The world would be a worse place without it, Sakura-chan."

Smartass.

My stare only held for a breath longer, my anger only able to hold up for so long when it came to directing it at a superior officer and a superior killer. It wasn't as if it was affecting him. All it was doing was taking time away from things I should be doing.

"Thank you, Sensei." With a polite nod of the head to him, I got back to work. Work. Where I could impotently seethe in peace. "It is nice to know that I am so valued."

Focusing on things I could do something about was how I kept myself sane.

----------

Naruto looked at Sasuke, the hairs on the back of his neck still standing up.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, brows raised and sweat running down his face in streams.

Sakura continued to radiate a sickening, cold sensation that made Naruto's limbs feel stiff and like time had slowed down as she covered large swathes of the fence with wide, aggressive strokes; Like she was wielding a kunai and cutting at someone instead of doing a job.

Naruto had already known this. Had always sort of known...but Sakura was kind of really scary. And it was nice to know he wasn't alone in thinking that right now, even if it was Sasuke doing the thinking.

She'd always been different, for sure. He hadn't needed to go to the academy and learn stuff to know that. It had just been, well… Sakura. She was different. She'd always been different.

Naruto wasn't good with words but, here, he didn't need to be.

She'd never laughed at him when he said he'd be the hokage one day. Not even once. Not in front of him. Not when she thought he couldn't hear her like everyone else did. Never.

Everyone had at some time or another. Even old man Hokage, even if he wasn't trying to be mean about it. But she never did. Sakura didn't laugh. She didn't even smile. She just...accepted it. Like it was something that was going to happen and not something that orphan kid had said to look bigger than he was.

It was like she didn't believe in him. That there wasn't a need to believe. She just knew that he would be hokage. Knew, and knew that there was nothing that anyone could do to stop that. It was... It was kind of scary, if he was being honest.

Not like the kind of scary he was feeling right now. But scary. She expected greatness from him and wouldn't expect less than that. How would that not be scary?

Sakura was scary. But she shouldn't be scary. Not to him. And not to any fellow nin.

Everything was okay and there was nothing to worry about.

Naruto shook his head free of unnecessary thoughts and worries and forced the steel back into his spine. The dark, dank cold of the underworld stopped trying to freeze the blood in his body as he squared his jaw and picked up the brush he hadn't even noticed he'd dropped.

She was a really nice girl. And a good person. He had to remember that. Not that it was hard. A single time that she was very, very scary wouldn't make him change his mind when it came to that.

There weren't a lot of girls that would have put him down as easily as she had when he'd tried to ask her out on a date. Or any, actually. There weren't a lot of girls his age that would even give him the time of day, let alone not smack him over the head after how he'd reacted.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but I like girls."

"Girls can like girls!?"

"...Yes, Naruto. Girls can like girls."

"Really? I never knew!"

"And guys can like guys."

"Guys can like- WHAT!?"

Naruto scratched his cheek sheepishly, the act of just remembering that time making him squirm. That and all the books she'd forced on him so he could learn about - sex. And stuff. And where the line was between healthy interest and perversion. Also, when none of that mattered so that you could take advantage of it without hesitation.

He'd missed all those talks in class.

"A ninja that doesn't use every advantage they have is a dead ninja, Naruto. You have to do better. Be better."

But he'd taken what Sakura had told him to heart…sometimes. He tried. He messed up sometimes. Being better than he was, was hard. Messing up every once in a while was normal (or so Sakura said) and... Old man Hokage and him hadn't talked about how Naruto had knocked him out that one time he'd been better.

Naruto was fine with that. It was awkward enough knowing that it had happened at all.

Using every advantage he had didn't always make for a good story.

Wait. Story. Story. Why did that make him want to scratch his head?

Ah, crap. Right. He'd wanted a story. Or, not a story. A lesson.

Naruto carefully eyed Sakura. And, getting no sense that she'd try and rip his head off if he asked an honest question, he resolved to ask one that had been sitting since last week and three whole mangled trees ago. "What's a bloodline limit?"

She stilled. Paint dripped sluggishly from the end of her instrument. The cold pulled back just that little bit more. "Hm?"

Him and Sasuke had gotten into it, because Sasuke hadn't been able to resist being a fucking asshole about telling him what a bloodline limit was, and he'd forgotten all about it. Telling Sasuke that he was an asshole had been more important.

Naruto didn't regret it.

"A bloodline limit? What are they?" Sakura echoed thoughtfully. "The long-term result of chakra exposure and very often purposeful eugenics." Her next stroke was a calmer one. "Do you want a longer explanation? A shorter one? Or do you want the crazy one?"

"The crazy one!"

Duh.

Sakura's lips turned upward, just a centimetre, and Naruto knew he'd done the right thing. "Of course you'd want that one. Alright. Here it is." She hummed. "The legendary and mythical god figure that is the Sage of Six Paths had children of his own. And they had children of their own. And so on and so forth. And the results are what you see today." Her smile grew. "Features and abilities beyond the common nin, diluted and split from the first true bloodline to ever exist."

Sounded legit.

"Why is that the crazy one?"

"Because then you'd have to believe there was a Goddess that lived inside of the moon. And that there were men that lived on the surface." Sakura's tone was a sarcastic one. Dry. As dry as an empty cup of Ramen on a Monday morning. "And that the Tailed Beasts didn't always exist."

Huh.

"Absolutely insane," Kakashi-sensei agreed.

Sakura nodded as she spoke with a low drawl. "Uh huh. Nothing anyone should take seriously."

"Because it's crazy."

"Yes."

"What's the longer explanation then?" Sasuke asked, no longer sweating like an overweight civilian in the summer as he wiped away what was left with a sleeve.

"The longer explanation…" Sakura got on the tips of her toes for a swipe along the top. "Along with what I said the first time, and was technically the short explanation all along, it's a special mix of chakra natures in one body which result in aforementioned abilities and features. Like special eyes or jutsu that can't be used by others outside the family." She took a breath. "Or multiple bodies, which is how you get a clan."

Naruto licked his lips, his mouth dry at the word 'family'. "And what's mine?"

Sakura fell back on her heels, easily avoiding paint spatter with a missing smile. "Yours."

This wasn't starting the way Naruto had hoped it would. He hadn't thought it would be good, he was an orphan after all, but… He'd kind of hoped anyway.

It was better to get it over with quickly. And at least he'd finally know that he'd come from somewhere.

"You're an Uzumaki, Naruto," Sakura began carefully. "You'll live longer. Even at the end of your life, you'll move and act like a man twenty years younger. You'll heal from just about anything that doesn't kill you. Your stamina will seem like it can never run out. Same as your chakra." Sakura readjusted her headband once more. "They were also known for their mastery in the sealing arts and traps."

"Naruto is going to live longer?" Sasuke asked and, for once, he didn't sound like a total dick. "How long?"

"No one really knows. It doesn't come up a lot. Not anymore. But longer... I'm sorry I can't tell you more." Sakura shrugged, an aura of discomfort surrounding her that was barely better than the cold; she took her protector off with a sigh and just - thoughtfully weighed it in her hands, her thumb caressing the metal as her words grew tired. "War isn't kind."

There was a long, painful quiet after that. A quiet that Sakura spent grudgingly tied her protector around her hips. Not talking as thick, pink strands fell over most of her face and dark, distant eyes.

"...I see." Sasuke crossed his arms and closed his eyes just as Naruto himself finally connected the dots. He could be slow. But he wasn't an idiot. "I'm sorry, Naruto."

The brush handle snapped in Naruto's fist.

Damn it. Now he wanted to cry. And no goddamn way was he going to do that in front of Sasuke.

He'd die first.

"Thanks." Now Naruto wished he hadn't asked. He sniffed. "You didn't do anything. But thanks."

"Yeah." Sasuke's shoulders rose, his collar hiding his crooked frown after a small glimpse. "It's nothing."

"...The Uzumaki didn't die in bed, if that makes you feel better. They died on the field or doing what they loved, not letting anything stop them or slow them down." Sakura gave him a soft pat on the shoulder, a bigger gesture of sympathy he couldn't imagine from her. He'd never seen anything bigger in all the years he'd known her and... It meant a lot. "You're keeping them alive, Naruto, just by being yourself."

God damn it.

"...We're almost done with the fence. Just a little longer and we can go get lunch." Sakura said in a way that...sounded like she was trying to be cheerful. It being Sakura, and with Ino nowhere in sight, it just sounded weird. The squeeze she gave his shoulder with that on top nearly broke him. "My treat."

Shit.

"It's raining," Sasuke added quietly. And nonsensically. And awkwardly as he did it at an angle, away from Naruto...and the entire fence past and behind him was green. All of it. When did Sakura...? Sakura. She'd done it. No point in asking more. "But we'll get it done."

"Fucking rain… There's too much." Naruto let the waterworks go into the sleeve of his suit with a sob, unable to hold it back anymore. "I-I can't see anything."

When the hell had Sasuke learned how to read a room?

"We've got you. Don't worry about it."

Son of a-

==========

My attempt to distract Kakashi so that I could paint the fence without him noticing had gotten a lot heavier than I thought it would. With a crying Naruto, an embarrassed Sasuke, an awkward me, and a very solemn Kakashi who had stopped reading his porn.

And with me on the hook for Ichiraku's. For three other people besides myself, one of them being Naruto.

…I didn't need another book on the dubious but amusing benefits of bloodletting right now anyway. Or today's paycheck. Or an early dinner with my parents.

That wasn't happening today, it seemed. Ino would be put out as well. But she'd understand. Somewhat. As much as she was able.

My paint brush returned to reluctant service.

The long view had to be taken. What needed to be done, needed to be done; Momentary comfort was only that. Momentary. Partaken of when possible, put off when not; Life wasn't a right for people like me. It wasn't guaranteed for someone without a family name or a destiny. It was a privilege. One that was only afforded to you for as long as you were useful. Or important to the right people.

Ramen and small talk every once in a while was a small price to pay for safety. For long term comfort.

For a future with a bakery that I was more than capable of running myself, with cakes and various pastries and adequately toasted and not at all charcoal-like toast.

Twenty invisible strings evaporated without even a puff of chakra to celebrate their passing; Naruto continued to sob into the crook of his arm and I couldn't help but give the boy another pat. One that only served to make his crying worse.

… That I honestly felt bad about this was secondary.

Honestly.

"Another ten minutes, guys," I said brightly. My throat itched. "Just another ten minutes and we can call it a day."

I couldn't wait.