"I don't understand what you're doing," Sakura said, "You're not even touching the damaged areas—his back was never even injured."
"Yeah," Naruto said, hands planted on his hips. "That's kind of weird, isn't it?"
"How would you know, whiskers?" I said, rolling my eyes. "When was the last time you healed anyone?"
The status effect for Shattered Bones vanished, and his Health Points rose to the full value. I said nothing to indicate I was finished because I wanted to see if I could fix everything while I had the opportunity.
"You don't need to be a chef to criticize the food you've been served," Naruto said, with the air of a person who was quoting somebody much wiser than himself. "This—is a plate of shit."
I snorted at the comment.
"Naruto," Sakura chastised, "That's disgusting."
"The technique is a complicated one, and it doesn't exactly work in a linear way," I said in answer to his critique. "It actually detects negative effects, assigns a durability value to them and then begins a systematic assault on it in order to restore the person to their optimal condition."
"That sounds nothing like medical ninjutsu," Sakura said.
"Naruto," I said, clearing my throat. "You get it, don't you?"
"Absolutely," Naruto said immediately. "It's super intuitive."
"I literally told you what that word meant two days ago," Sakura accused, drawing in a sharp breath. "You're totally lying right now; you don't get it at all—he doesn't get it."
"Who treated you for this injury, anyway?" I said, trying not to smile. "It must have been someone just starting out with their training?"
Sakura made a strangled noise in the back of her throat, and Naruto cracked an eye open to look at her, visibly wary—I wondered how many times that noise had preceded him getting his ass kicked.
"Tsunade was the one responsible for treating my condition," Lee said, not at all bothered by the silent war going on around him. "I could barely move my arm and leg at the start—if it wasn't for her, I would have had to quit being a shinobi."
"That's pretty heavy, man," I admitted, "I'm sure your village was lucky to have you back in fighting shape—you seem like a really strong shinobi."
"Thank you," Lee beamed, "The path I have taken is not the standard one, but it's my dream to become a splendid shinobi all the same."
"There's no doubt in my mind that you'll manage it," I said, nodding. "What about you two—what are your dreams?"
"I'm going to become the Hokage," Naruto said, already grinning. "No matter what."
"That's the leader of your village, right? Interesting choice," I asked, "What are you going to do with all that power once you take charge?"
"Power?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah—are there things you think the current leader is ignoring that you want to be handled differently?" I said, "Change the rules? Make new policies? Maybe you want to revolutionise the way they train shinobi?"
"I—guess I don't really know about that stuff," Naruto admitted, reaching up to touch his headband. "Maybe I'd change the academy tests? Since they suck so bad."
Sakura looked scandalised.
"That's a start, but you better start thinking about it now, so you know where you're headed once you get the position," I said before glancing over at Sakura. "What about you—you've got a dream, too, don't you?"
