You still hadn’t looked in the mirror. You knew what you’d see. You felt it every time the wind brushed your cheeks, every time someone’s gaze lingered too long. The tiger's claws had been too fast to dodge, too deep to heal without leaving a mark. Six slashes in total, three across each cheek, jagged and angry, like someone had carved them into your skin just to remind you what you’d survived.

“It could’ve been worse,” Shino had said quietly after the mission. Maybe he meant it as comfort. You weren’t sure.

Sakura wasn’t even that subtle. “I’m so sorry,” she’d whispered, lips pursed in a pitying frown. “I mean… your face. You used to be really pretty, and now…”

You’d stopped listening after that.

So you sat there behind the training hall, knees pulled to your chest, hoping the scarred shadows on your face wouldn’t follow you here. The ache of healing cuts throbbed, but the ache of being seen felt worse.

And then he came. “Heeey! There you are!”

You looked up slowly to see Naruto bounding toward you, grinning like an idiot, like the world wasn’t heavy at all. Like your face didn’t just change forever.

You opened your mouth to tell him to leave. But before you could, he dropped down beside you, crouched low, his face close. Studying you. Not flinching.

His smile grew wider. "WOAH! Yours look just like mine!" You blinked.

“Huh?”

He pointed to his cheeks, those familiar three little whisker-marks on each side. Then to yours. “See? Yours are like mine, but cooler, like battle scars! It’s like we’re matched now or something!”

Your lips parted, confused. “Matched?”

“Yeah!” he said brightly, like it was the best news ever. “Like- like we have the same tattoo or something! Not that we got them on purpose,” he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “But hey, now I’m not the only one who looks like this! We’re a pair!”

You stared at him. Really stared. No pity. No flinching. No fake sympathy. It was just same old Naruto. Somehow proud.

"Y’know," he added, voice softening a little, “I used to think mine made me look weird. Like people could tell there was something wrong with me just by looking. But if you have them too… maybe it’s not so bad, huh?”

The silence settled. Lighter now. Somehow. He nudged your shoulder.

"You don’t look any less pretty to me."

He said it like it was just a fact. Like the sun rising. Like the scars were a badge you now shared. And for the first time since the fight, you almost smiled.