I don't own Naruto, you get the picture. This story could be counted as AU, given that I mess with cannon a bit, timelines, and outcomes etcetera etcetera. Got the idea for it by comparing some deviant art pictures of Sasori and Gaara, and realized that they look a lot alike. And I know that that is no indication of relationship, and that Gaara already has an accepted "family" if you can call it that, but as far as I know, Naruto's father is 'supposed' to be the Yondaime Hokage for no better reason that I can find but they look almost identical, AND Gaara looks nothing like his supposed 'real' family.
Naruto may not be mine, but this story is, as are any original names within it.
Gaara. When Sasori saw him for the first time, battered and beaten on the back of Deidara's bird, he was grateful for the inability of his puppet face to show emotion. That red hair, so rare in Sunagakure. That face, despite its battered appearance and the garish red tattoo. Even though his eyes were closed, Sasori knew that they would not be small black and beady like most everyone in the village. No, they would be red, or perhaps his grandmother's cool aquamarine, despite the permanent black rings that marked him as the vessel of Ichibi. Sasori knew, deep inside his puppet, sure as he knew every trick and joint of every puppet he made, that the boy was his son.
He'd never known that Nanami had another child. Now he realized that the fatal 'illness' that had killed her was actually complications due to sealing Ichibi into the child while still in the womb. And it would explain why Yuura's reports had indicated that the boy had endured a worse than usual childhood for jinchuuriki. Yondaime Kazekage had seen Gaara's unusual hair and eye color and knew that the child could not have been his own son, and thanks to the treatment of the child that he had encouraged, had nearly induced the jinchuuriki into killing the entire population of Suna.
Sasori remembered the rage he'd felt when he'd heard the report of Nanami's death, nearly 16 years ago. He'd met Nanami well before he'd fled Sunagakure after killing the Sandaime Kazekage. They had been together for years. After her second child was born, finally a boy, her husband abandoned her for his shinobi career. It had taken some time for the sweet and patient Nanami to crack the famous puppeteer's cold exterior, but eventually, they became lovers. They loved each other. Sasori because Nanami saw through the legend he was fact becoming to the real man underneath; Nanami because Sasori loved her back and paid attention to her. Her husband was more interested in sucking up to the council in hopes of being named the next Kazekage when the sandaime either died of stepped down, than his wife and children. They were happy together.
Then everything, suddenly and completely, disintegrated. After more than 3 years of either ignoring their affair or simply not noticing it, Nanami's husband suddenly decided he was violently jealous and locked Nanami in the house, setting enough traps that Sasori couldn't gain access without attracting undue attention. Then Yashamaru, Nanami's younger brother, leaked word to Sasori his parents had been sacrificed for a mission at the Sandaime's orders. Also, his team had met with the same fate, sent on a suicide mission for Sandaime's gain. That was bad enough, but Yashamaru had more news. Sandaime Kazekage felt threatened by Sasori's growing skill, and planned to eliminate the puppeteer at any cost. Cut of from Nanami's comforting, soothing, calming words and determined to make sandaime pay, Sasori had taken the ultimate step and sealed himself inside a puppet. He then attacked and killed the Kazekage, joining Akatsuki soon after he fled the village.
Sasori guessed that Nanami had been pregnant with Gaara when everything had happened. Maybe that was what had tipped her husband off in the first place. He could guess that the new Yondaime, not feeling any sympathy for the fate he was sentencing mother and child to, and desperate to bolster Suna's fading defenses which had been falling since the Daimyo started to boycott Suna's shinobi, had ordered the Ichibi to be removed from its present container and sealed within the unborn child. He didn't have to guess that Nanami, gentle sweet Nanami, feeling betrayed by everyone around her, had died with curses on her lips. The boy's name was proof enough of her state of mind at the end. Gaara. A demon that cares only for himself, and therefore is invulnerable from betrayal. It was not a stretch to assume that even Yashamaru had turned his back on the boy. Yashamaru had worshiped his sister, and would have undoubtedly have held him responsible for his mother's death.
Sasori knew through reports, that once Gaara had been convinced that the reason he had been left so alone was that no one recognized his existence, and to force people to recognize him, had determined that his purpose in life was to kill every last person in the world with the exception of himself. Yet somehow, this deadly dream had been completely turned upside down about 3 years ago. If Sasori had the timing down right, that would make it close to the time Itachi and Kisame had made their first, abortive, grab for Kyuubi. Where as before the change, Gaara had been bitter and vengeful about his childhood, now he'd concentrated his energy into protecting the people of Sunagakure, and had even been chosen as the Godaime Kazekage. He'd definitely put up a better fight than expected against Deidara. Hell, the brat had used up more energy than he could afford shielding the village from the explosive expert's special #18.
Now as the redheaded jinchuuriki was quickly prepped for the extraction ceremony, Sasori was struck by what exactly he was doing. He was preparing to kill his only son simply because the boy had the misfortune of having one of the Bijou bonded to him in the womb. The impudent brat who had the audacity to use his own puppets against him, Kankuro, must have been the same toddler he'd lulled into sleep more than once by the dancing of his less deadly puppets.
He also knew that he, alone, couldn't stop this. Sasori was no fool. Alone, with his son, he stood no chance against the other 8 members of Akatsuki. Kisame's Samehada would cut and absorb his chakra strings, rendering him unable to use the puppets he summoned. Deidara would then blow the defenseless puppets to bits. Itachi would be unable to use Mangekyou Sharingan on him, as he would be unable to find his eyes, but was good enough in close combat to make mincemeat out of any puppeteer. Zetsu's vines would anchor him to the ground. Tobi would rip his mind apart with genjutsu. Hidan would slice him to ribbons before offering him up to Jashin. He'd fare better against Kakuzu's poisons because of his puppet body, but the other 6 could easily finish him off if they worked together, which they would. And Leader, what Leader would do to him didn't bear thinking about. He had to do this, and never let any other members know about his second thoughts.
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