Spoilers: only if you don’t know about his parents…
Ch. 3: Naruto vs. Gaara
--
“Hisoka! Why’d we have to come here??” he moaned, holding his arms in front of his face, peeking between them. “I keep getting sand in my eyes.”
“Stop whining and use your chakra!” she barked.
The chuckle rolled through his mind, ‘Can’t you do it with your own Kit?’
“Of course I can!!” Naruto yelled. Stopping to focus, he poured out a tiny bit of chakra, layering it over his face. Grumbling as he slowly kept adding to it, he rushed to catch up with her. “I still don’t get why I’m learning Lightning in Wind Country. Why didn’t I do Fuuton here?”
‘The weakest against the strongest leads to true strength,’ the Kyuubi growled, ‘How hard is it to understand?’
Hisoka sighed, “It’s like we told you before Naruto; yes, it would make sense to train in the main element of the country, but the best gauge of your strength, the best way to test you is against the stronger element. Wind is stronger than Lightning, so what better way to improve, increase your strength than to beat someone that has the stronger jutsu.”
He narrowed his eyes and hummed, “So… I’m learning how to beat up the big kids…?”
She couldn’t help smiling as she knelt in front of him, ruffling his hair, “Exactly.” Standing up, she was suddenly all business, cool and detached. “Now, what’s the main weakness of Raiton?”
Naruto snapped to attention, his vest and cargos billowing in the wind, “That you always have to create the lightning.” The nearly eight-year-old narrowed his eyes, “But what about Raijuu, how’s that work?”
Hisoka jumped as Youko snorted, ‘So that brain really does work,’ he chided, ‘Raijuu’s chakra is electricity Kit, he doesn’t need to change it.’
“Oh,” he answered before slipping into the stance.
----------------
“Wolf-san, you are hereby removed from ANBU Black OPS. Please hand in your mask,” the Hokage plainly stated, folding his hands on his desk.
The other members of the team gasped, twitched. “But why Hokage-sama? The mission was a success,” a woman’s voice came from behind a beaked mask.
The old man sighed as the white mask was placed on his desk. “His actions almost gave away your position, got Cat-san hurt.” He stopped as he tied his hitai-ate around his head, slid it over his left eye. “The rest of you are dismissed.” They vanished.
“I don’t believe it. I thought you were better than this.” Hokage sighed as he picked up the mask, “You’ve let this desire to find Naruto distract you from the mission twice now. You almost got your friend killed because of this obsession. What would Minato think?”
“He would have found him already.” Kakashi coolly stated, “He would have gone after him, sent all the tracking squads out for him.”
“No.” He stood, “He would have remembered his position. Truly, as his father I could see Minato going after Naruto as easily as you do, but I know he would realize he would only be in the way, slow the squads down. He would stay here in the village and try to do his job, let the trackers do theirs.”
Turning to the scrolls piled on his desk, he kept going, “I’ve had teams searching for almost two years,” he slapped the hand away, snatching the scroll back. “I hope you realize this isn’t something we can make public, let the other Hidden Villages find out. That the son of the Fourth Hokage, the jinchuuriki of the Nine-tailed Fox has run away from Konoha is not something Minato would let leak.”
“He didn’t run.”
“Yes he did. He just wasn’t alone.” The old man started shuffling papers, “He found one who cared, who helped him when everyone either hurt or ignored him. What would you have done at his age? You can’t tell me it never crossed your mind, even with being chuunin.”
Finding the paper, he sighed as he held it out. “I’ve put you down as inactive for three months,” he paused as he jumped, that eye widened, “You are not to leave the village under any circumstances. You’re under heavy surveillance already; if you attempt to leave you’ll be put under arrest. If you do leave you’ll be listed as an SS-class missing nin in the Bingo Book. Either way won’t help you bring him back.”
The shock receded when the consequences sunk in. “Understood Sir,” he replied before turning to the paper, “My future assignment.”
He nodded as Kakashi took it, “Field training the genin cells. Hopefully it’ll help you remember what being a shinobi is all about.”
His gaze fell to the paper as his mind raced back to those days and farther, old lessons almost forgotten. He bowed slowly, “Forgive me Hokage-sama.”
The Sandaime watched carefully as Kakashi stayed in place, “The one you need to apologize to is in the hospital. Now go, leave this old man to his paperwork.” He smiled softly.
------------------
The force of the impact knocked him on his back, sliding down the dune. Shaking feeling back into his hands, he focused his senses, feeling two other chakra only raised his guard as he slowly rolled over. The pained cry made him say, “Hisoka wait.”
She suddenly appeared beside him. “What Naruto? You never let outsiders interfere with training.”
‘This is no outsider Hisoka,’ Youko thought as Naruto crawled up the next dune.
“These chakra feel kinda like you guys,” Naruto mumbled, turning to her before looking over the top.
“Shukaku-sama please! I meant no disrespect!” the ring-tailed creature whimpered as it tried to scramble backwards, its left arm and leg wrapped in sand.
A redhead boy in a poncho stood there glaring at it. “You laughed at me,” he grumbled, slowly drawing his right arm back as he barely curled his fingers, pulling another scream of pain, “No one laughs at me and lives.”
“Hey! Leave’m alone!” Naruto hopped up into the air, flipping through the hand signs before “Kaze no Muchi! Whip of Wind!” swinging his right hand down, the small vortex instantly grew, stretching and cutting the sand and into the dune. The creature scurried towards Hisoka.
“Wrong element Naruto,” Hisoka called out as he landed about twelve yards from the boy.
‘Watch out for this one kid,’ Youko stated, ‘Ichibi’s little more than a drunken bully. His vessel seems to be too influenced by him.’
‘So should I switch to Lightning?’ he asked, watching as the sand slithered back inside the giant gourd on the kid’s back.
‘I doubt he’s been trained in anything. He’s relying on what Ichibi can do, unconsciously mimicking that damn tanuki,’ Youko answered, ‘Go ahead, these last couple of weeks should have been enough.’
Naruto nodded absently before turning to the guy. Blackened eyelids narrowed at him as he tried to remember the hand signs, “Come on Ichibi gimme your best shot!”
White-gold chakra flared off the redhead, gusting over him as he growled, “DON’T CALL ME THAT!!”
Feeling the chakra biting as much as the sand in the air, the ground was rising and churning, undulating beneath Naruto’s feet. It finally hit and he vaulted into the air, flashing through hand signs as the sand suddenly shot up, tendrils reaching for him now. “Seidenki Kyuu!” he cupped his hands together, the energy crackling as he raised them over his head. Letting it get stronger, he snapped his legs out as he slammed it at the ground, “Static Ball!”
The sheer force plowed the hissing ball of sparks through the fingers and into the surrounding sand, electricity shooting all around, snapping at both the boy and the demons. Smirking at the little twitches and jerks, Naruto rolled downward and landed behind him, slipping a tag onto the gourd. The boy spun before Naruto could even stand, driving his knee into the side of his head, knocking him a good three yards away.
“Damn that hurts,” Naruto muttered as he sat up, touching the deep scrape across his ear and cheek, “Gonna hurt even more later, right?”
‘Of course. You’re gloating too soon,’ Youko simply replied.
“You’re gonna pay for that,” the redhead growled, swinging his arms up. “What?!” he roared at Naruto’s tiny flinch, twisting left and right to see all he had was two piles of sand up to his knees.
“Not quite as much as I wanted,” Naruto mumbled as he stood up, brushing sand out of his pants. “There’s a bunch of electricity in the sand, it won’t move like normal,” he added, wiping blood from his cheek.
The kid smirked, “So I can’t use what’s on the ground,” sand started flowing out the gourd, collecting from the air around them, “So what.”
“Shit,” Naruto jumped, dodging left and right as handfuls of sand flew at him from all directions. Blocking three aimed for his head with his arms, he grumbled, “I’ve had it!”
“Here I go,” landing in a low crouch; Naruto rushed the boy, his hand whipping out of the pocket above his right knee just as he appeared in front of the boy. “You dumb tanuki!!” he swore with an uppercut that shot him off the ground. Slapping the tag on the foot that barely missed his chin, Naruto yelled, “Dengeki!”
Lightning arced off the tags on his foot and the gourd, racing across the boy towards each other, making him scream, twitch and flail as he flew back, the energy keeping him airborne. Finally landing some yards away, the voltage weakened a bit before he passed out.
-----------------
“How long’s he been out now?” Naruto asked, nudging him with his foot, “I didn’t think I put that much juice in those tags.”
“It’s been almost an hour My Lord,” the tanuki spoke up from the other side of the boy.
He blushed, rubbing the back of his neck, “Would you stop doing that? I’m not your anything Saka.”
“But you rescued me,” he answered, hands trembling as he pulled back.
Naruto knelt down, looking the creature in the eye, “You called him Sama and I can’t stand it when people beat on the little guy.” A groan made him turn to the body between them, the green eyes slowly opening, “Leaders are supposed to care for their people.”
“Fear is easier,” the boy groaned.
“It might be easier,” Naruto admitted, “but they turn on you quicker. Just ask that thing.” He patted the kid’s stomach.
He turned briefly before sitting up, “How did…”
Naruto stood and opened his vest, revealing the spiraling seal. “Youko’s laughing at you Ichibi. He’s not really trying to hide.”
The redhead suddenly grabbed his head, “Stop calling him that!”
“What Ichibi?” Naruto smirked as the demon scrambled back, the boy curling in pain.
“He’s screaming, roaring in my head!” the boy pitched forward, “Make it stop! Make it stop!!”
‘Come on kit,’ Youko coolly ordered as Naruto knelt in front of him.
‘What do I do?’ he thought, reaching out for him.
‘Grab his head and let me do it,’ that voice almost purred. A simple flare of power rushed down his arms, a weaker one rose to stop it but was easily overrode. The boy slumped out of his grip and into Naruto’s lap, his hands landing on either side of him.
‘What did you do?’ Naruto asked as he helped him sit up.
Hisoka suddenly rounded the dune they were hiding behind. ‘Later kit,’ Youko replied as Hisoka spoke, “They’re not looking for him,” she paused as she realized he was up, “no one’s even concerned about you.”
“They never are,” that gruff voice wavered a bit, his eyes falling to the ground. “I was born to be the vessel. I can’t control it like they want so they’re out to kill me.”
“And I thought my life sucked,” Naruto muttered, “Then why don’t you just kill’em all?”
He huffed, “There’d just be more from another village. It’s not worth it.”
Naruto smirked as he stood, “Besides you really don’t know how to fight.” The kid’s head snapped up, “Come on, all you’re doing is throwing around sand.”
Those fists curled even tighter as Hisoka stepped in, “Naruto’s blunt but he’s right. If a few basic lightning jutsu can take you down, you don’t know much of your wind jutsu.” At that she turned to her student, “And what’s with those tags?”
He suddenly got nervous, squirming, “W-well… you know I keep mixing them up, which one’s tiger and which one’s ram,” he smiled brightly, “And this way I don’t forget which one I did already.”
Hisoka hummed with a slight smile, “True.”
‘A little more chakra and that would be a highly effective assassination technique,’ Youko spoke up.
“As it was meant to be,” she replied out loud.
Naruto caught the confusion on the other boy’s face, “You didn’t hear that, did you?”
Boy and tanuki both shook their heads.
‘The ring-tail’s not strong enough,’ Youko responded before he could even think, ‘and we can’t speak to each other when sealed, remember.’
He grumbled, ‘Yeah, yeah,’ before answering the look on the redhead’s face. “They agreed it’d be good for assassinations,” the other boy just nodded. “So you coming with us or not?”
He froze, shocked, “What…”
“You’re not the only one who’s had a shitty life you know,” he patted his seal, “You get ignored and assassins; I got ignored and beaten almost to death. But Hisoka saved me.” He turned to her, “She’s an amazing mom and a terrific teacher, and there’s more than enough room.”
“Naruto,” Hisoka cut in, only to stop with Youko’s thought, ‘If we’re going to stop them it’d be better to have him with us, especially with Sokou.’
“So, whadda ya say?” Naruto asked, oblivious to all the demons.
The boy just sat there, staring as Naruto held out his hand. Turning to get a smile from Hisoka back to Naruto’s 100 watt one, he nodded briefly before taking that hand, letting Naruto haul him up. “Alright.”
“Terrific!!” Naruto suddenly started scratching his nose, “Now… uhhh, what’s your name?”
A tiny smile tried to show, “Gaara.”
“Gaara, huh?” His eyes shot open before he slumped, “Do I have to do Wind again?”
[Reviews - 0]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +
Chapter notes: “Come on Ichibi gimme your best shot!”
Chapter end notes: i know what you're thinking, but remember Gaara was unconscious when they left the arena during the chuunin exams and when Deidara stole him from Suna.
and a yes/no spoiler q(simply cuz my pc sucks so i don't read fantrans) i know there's been chapters with alot more of the past, Naruto's parents, all i wanna know is was he told this? e me if you don't wanna spoiler it.