When Naruto and Sakura met up with their teammate on the usual bridge, he was inspecting his fingers carefully. The two exchanged a look before approaching Sasuke.

“Whatcha lookin’ at there, Sasuke?” Naruto asked, slapping the other boy on the back. “Pick your nose or something?”

“No,” Sasuke said, disgusted. “I just noticed something.”

“What?”

“I…don’t have fingerprints.”

“Really?” Sakura asked, peeking over his shoulder. “Wow, you don’t. Wonder why that is.”

“I was just thinking that myself. I can’t think of anything that would’ve done that.”

“Well, I bet we can,” Naruto said gesturing to himself and Sakura. “Sakura’s real smart!”

“I’m sure you can’t.” Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Naruto, you’ll probably tell me something like mole people—“

“I’ve got it!” Naruto shouted, interrupting the raven-haired boy. “Mole people chewed them off your fingers when you were sleeping!”

“Exactly what I thought you’d say.”

“Naruto! Can you act mature for two seconds? Think of something plausible!” She rolled her eyes. “For Hokage’s sake…”

“Well, then you think of something, Sakura!”

“It was probably caused by friction. Maybe from all the times you’ve scraped your hands, like when you land on then and scrape across the ground. Or maybe from the times you’ve cut your fingers on a kunai or shuriken.”

“Impossible,” Sasuke scoffed. “I’ve never cut my hands on a kunai, or a shuriken. And I flip gracefully, I never scrape my hands.” He looked away from her, indignant. “The nerve.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” Sakura sniffed. “But it was a completely reasonable reason.”

“It’s because you’re in the MIB! You’re, like, Agent ‘S’ or something, aren’t you?”

“The what?”

“The men in black. Come one, Sasuke, you knew that. We saw the movie together!”

“Um…I don’t remember that.”

“You don’t? Aw.”

“Well, since it wasn’t mole people or because you’re in the MIB,” Sakura said, “maybe it’s because you’ve recently been exposed to an acidic substance.”

“I haven’t. No chemicals whatsoever.”

“It doesn’t have to necessarily be a pure chemical. If you eat salt and vinegar chips too often it can happen. The vinegar can react with the oils on your skin and take some of the cells right off.”

“Really?”

“Well, it’s just a theory, but it’s possible, I suppose.”

“But I don’t eat chips. Or anything with vinegar.”

“Not even pickled vegetables?”

“Well, yeah, but not with my fingers.”

“What if it’s because mini-ninja are having a war on your fingers, and since they’re having mega battles, they destroy the skin on your fingers like we destroy the land we fight on.”

“No. Just no.”

“You peeled them off?” Sakura suggested. Sasuke shook his head. He’d rather die than admit to using lotion, though.

“You’re not really Sasuke, bit a clone of Sasuke with all his knowledge and memories installed into your brain.” Naruto accused.

“No, I’m pretty sure I’m not. I wouldn’t have sharingan if I wasn’t a real Uchiha.”

“You were born without them?” Sakura asked.

“But I had them when we were in the academy.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re secretly a cartoon character and we’re all characters on some show that some sick, sick guy made up for other peoples’ enjoyment.” There was a lengthy pause before everyone went “NAH.”

“Sasuke-kun, let me see your hands.” Without waiting for permission, Sakura grabbed both of them and held them next to each other, comparing the fingers. His left still had the fingertips intact. Sakura wracked her brain for reasons that might cause him to lose fingerprints on only one hand. Only one thing came to her mind. She dropped his hands faster than a hot potato. “Oh, ew, Sasuke, you didn’t!”

“Didn’t what?” Sakura leaned in and whispered it into his ears. He reddened.

“No way! I’ve been a little busy avenging my family by killing my brother. I wouldn’t have time to…you know.” They looked at their feet awkwardly while Naruto looked on, confused.

“What didn’t he do? Come on, tell me! Tell me!”

“Just drop it, Naruto!” They both shouted.

“Should I come back later?” Another voice said. Everyone looked toward the voice, startled. It was Kakashi-sensei.

“No, it’s fine. We were just discussing reasons why Sasuke doesn’t have fingerprints.”

“Really? What have you come up with?”

“Mole people, friction burns, being in the MIB, acid burns, mini-ninjas, peeling the skin off, Sasuke being a clone, being born without them, being a cartoon character, and…” Sakura mumbled the last word.

“What was that last one?” Sakura said it a little louder.

“Still not getting it.”

“Masturbating!” She shouted finally, making her face turn red. Naruto pointed and laughed.

“Hahahahah! You said masturbating.”

“So did you, Naruto.”

“Dammit!”

“Can I see your hand?” Sasuke showed him and Kakashi inspected them carefully. “They’ve been burned off,” he stated.

“What?” Sasuke exclaimed. “How?”

“Wow, maybe they’ve been putting too much faith in the Uchiha survivor,” Kakashi muttered. “Think about it. Your jutsu strength is fire. Every time you do those jutsu and breathe fire through your fingers, you’re taking off micro layers of skin, until, finally, the raised parts that we know as ‘fingerprints’ are completely gone.”

“Oh.”

“Well, that makes sense…”

“Okay, now that that’s settled, can we go on to today’s mission?”

“Yes, sensei,” they droned in unison. They headed off toward the Hokage’s tower, and Kakashi strolled after them, happy that they hadn’t drilled him about being late.

A/N: Just a little something I threw together on a whim. Besides, it's a gift because i was away for so long. Sorry guys. More updates coming soon.