Restless Peace-Chapter 1
It has been four months since the war ended, each country and village are recovering quickly, too quickly. The threat that had made us allies is gone, a victory won. But now, old grudges are coming to light in a new way, even my own shinobi whisper complaints against the other nations. This peace that united us for such a moment is faltering. It is everything I can do to keep up the trust between even our closest friends at Konoha.
My name is Gaara, Kazakage of the Village hidden in the Sand. I have endured what most would say is unbearable and even suffered death. Enduring these things would have been impossible without my comrades, namely one in particular. Naruto Uzumaki, Jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village, and the last of the Jinchuriki. I had once also been labeled Jinchuriki, a name given to those who have been made weapons for their country since the time of their birth. We had no choice in the matter, we both suffered the same fate, and I would have been lost, had I never met Naruto. This bond between him and I have created a mutual trust between our villages but now, fresh from the losses of war. Even this trust between our homes threatens to crumble.
This is why my team and I are traveling to his home, to meet with Konoha's Hokage. A normal ninja team consists of a captain and three ninja, but my team is made up of myself and my two siblings, Temari and Konkuro. We once had a sensei that completed our team, but he was never active with our missions, and fell away from us quickly. We have never taken on another team member, because no one has ever fallen into sync with us, we know each other too well anyone who tries to join us was never able to be helpful. My advisors tell me it is too dangerous for me to travel with even just one team much less an incomplete one. But this is one area in which I do not take their advice. My siblings and I are more than capable of traveling alone and prefer it to having a slow procession of unnecessary guards.
The journey to the village is somewhat uneventful. We encounter two groups of rouge ninja, one has no idea who we are, looking to gain nothing more than any valuables we may have had. They are easily subdued and we move on. The next is a bit more prepared, they know who I am and in turn know who Temari and Konkuro are. They prepare a slightly more strategic approach, but my team reacts quickly and takes out the enemy.
"Man you would think they would like, team up or something, at least give us a challenge!" Konkuro mocks the group's efforts. "I haven't even worked up a sweat yet!"
"Well then maybe you should put a little more effort into running and work up a sweat there!" Temari rebukes, "Gaara and I would already be there if we didn't have to move at your pace!" Her concentrated expression she wears while traveling falls for a moment to grin at her remark and the look of contempt Konkuro returns.
Temari is the oldest of us; she has grown into a strong kunochi recently. She was always strong in terms of battle, but now she is strong mentally. Ever since I was taken by the Akatsuki, a group hunting the Jinchuuriki, and in turn killed, she has become wiser and stronger. I can always turn to her; she has led us as a family and led troops into battle. Her ever present looks of concentration, tell me her senses are on alert, scanning for threats, always learning. But she is never too far gone to ignore Konkuro and his antics.
Konkuro is Konkuro, he is older than me as well, and has been a good brother and teammate. He has helped me become who I am today, by warning me of people and always telling me the truth. He never sugar coats anything to spare feelings. This is a quality I greatly respect, honesty. But this quality also drives Temari insane half the time, and is usually what begins their arguments.
"You've got to be kidding me! Gaara can freakin fly, so yeah, he could out run me but you? Please! Don't make me laugh!" Konkuro glared at our sister as we moved otherwise silently through the trees toward our destination.
"What do you mean I couldn't out run you! You're about as quick as a snail compared to me!" Temari turned and jumped backward so to face Konkuro who was running behind her. This was common for a lot of ninja, our senses have been sharpened enough to hear anyone running in front of you and know where to land your feet even without looking. Temari has excellent senses so this is not problem for her, but Konkuro can't, and that's exactly why Temari did so.
Konkuro doesn't disappoint, his face grew red with frustration and anger at this gesture and he opened his mouth to yell out at her. I knew what would follow and didn't want to hear it.
"Enough, we are close." This and a quick look at Temari shut them both up and Temari turned back around with a smirk. She had won this round, which also meant Konkuro had lost which put him in a bad mood all the way to the village.
Not long ago they both would have stopped out of fear of me, what I might have done. But now they did what I asked because they knew it annoyed me and cared about my feelings, today was one of the rare occasions when they both complied with my request, even though we were alone. When we weren't in the village where I was in charge, things were very normal for us. No 'yes sir' or other recognition of authority, just a family traveling together. I liked these times, away from the stress of the responsibility I carried.
We were all anxious to get to the village hidden in the Leaves. We all loved being here and hadn't been since before the war. I had sent forces to help the village after it was attacked, but the Hokage that had been instated following Lady Tsunade's coma, sent them all back immediately. I would have gone myself but I needed to protect my village more than ever, and I trusted that Naruto would take care of things.
Since the war Naruto has visited my village a couple of times, personally bringing non-urgent messages instead of sending them by messenger bird just to come. He told us the village was making tremendous progress and things were pretty much back to normal. During his visits we started to notice the looks of distrust in the eyes of our people. Naruto was well known here and before the war was greeted like one of our own. The war had brought much suffering, through the loss of life. Now that the fighting was over the loss of comrades were blamed on those they fell among, ninja from other villages. If a Sand ninja fell while fighting with a Leaf ninja, those in the sand blamed the ninja from the leaf, saying they could have saved him. This wasn't true of course, but those who had never known war, looked for reasoning, why so many had died. And blame began to fall on others from different villages. I did my best to defuse these thoughts from the beginning. But whispers of anger and loss passed and the distrust grew. Even to the Leaf ninja who was our closest ally.
I would do whatever necessary to maintain this bond with them, which is why we are going to the Leaf now. I will speak with the Hokage to see if they are facing the same problem and find a common resolve.
My question is almost immediately answered. We are almost to the village when Temari speaks, "There's someone up a head."
It would be unlikely for a rouge ninja to be so close to a village, so we all have a good idea of who it is. This makes a grin grow on Konkuro's face, and he pushes himself ahead of our group. Temari stifles a grin, Konkuro and Naruto had become good friends as well. Both always pulling pranks and getting on each other's nerves. Naruto's ever growing work ethic, and Konkuro's ever dwindling one made for clashing personalities that results in humorous arguments.
As we grow closer, we see the unmistakable orange hyperactive ninja sleeping in a tree. This is the perfect opportunity for Konkuro who is quite a way ahead of us now. Konkuro lands lightly on the tree Naruto is perched in and moved silently in front of him. Of course Naruto's senses are great and his body reacts to Konkuro's presence. He wakes up immediately and Konkuro screams in his face. Naruto returns the scream and loses his balance and falls to the ground. This of course is exactly what Konkuro has hoped for and he doubles over in laughter.
Temari and I land on the ground next to the screaming Naruto.
"What was that for you jerk? Here I was having a perfectly nice nap, and I wake up and some freak in purple makeup is all in my face!" This continues until Konkuro joins us on the ground whipping a pretend tear from his face while laughing.
"Oh that was perfect." Konkuro remarks at Naruto's fall.
"Naruto what are you doing here?" Temari asks, diffusing his anger at Konkuro.
Turning his attention to Temari and I, Naruto's expression changes to his normal goofy grin and he throws his arms behind his head. "I'm here to be your escort into the village!"
"Escort?" Temari asks confused. We have visited the village numerous times before the war and never required an escort before. My earlier question was answered by Naruto; Konoha was facing the same unrest my village was. Of course no one in Konoha would openly speak against us but the villagers would be uneasy. But Naruto was trusted so explicitly in his village, if he was with us no one would question us.
"I don't know, Granny Tsunade just told me you were coming and told me to wait for you out here. It was pretty boring so I trained for a while, but you guys took so long I finally just took a nap." Naruto answered unconcerned.
Naruto and I lead the group, running the rest of the distance to the village gate. If anyone I had met would be a candidate to complete my team, it would be Naruto, he works well with us and quickly falls into synch with our normal pace. Or as in synch as Naruto could be, as great of ninja Naruto is, if the time came that he felt it necessary, he would abandon his team's goal to protect his teammates. This was still a bit strange to me, but it's the way Naruto has always been.
We reach the village minutes later and are greeted by a girl I have never met. She appears to be a bit younger than Naruto and I, maybe by one year. She has brown shoulder length hair and blue eyes and wore her ninja headband on her upper arm. She is dressed in traditional ninja wear, light clothes and a vest jacket. I can tell she is shy by nature but genuinely excited to see our group. She wears a kind smile but seems tired.
"Guys this is Hannah, your other escort." Naruto explained, Hannah's smile grew at her introduction.
"Nice to meet you!" Hannah responded regarding each of us. "Naruto everything over there is ready for them, and Lady Tsunade got caught in a meeting with the elders it might be a while until the Kazakage can see her." She spoke to Naruto but then turned her attention to me, "I'm very sorry for the inconvenience." She bowed her head slightly in respect as Naruto started laughing.
"Right, inconvenience. Well let's get going then so you can get settled in. How long do you guys get to stay until the Sand village falls apart without you Gaara?"
"Perhaps a couple of days, my business with the Hokage shouldn't take too long." I answer. Naruto instantly closes the distance between us and puts his arm over my shoulder and mischievously asks.
"Sooo what are you and Granny meeting about anyway? Huh? Huh? Is something exciting going on? Ooh, is Temari and Shikamaru getting married?" Naruto hardly has time to let the words out of his mouth before Temari hits him hard with the end of her enormous unfolded fan. Konkuro laughs again staring at Naruto. But Hannah isn't looking at Naruto, her eyes are rested on Temari and her fan, the look in her eyes tells me that she is fascinated by my sister. And that's when I notice Hannah's weapon of choice. Hanging loosely from her kuni belt are two sister fans much smaller than Temari's. Hannah must also have wind nature chakra like Temari and Naruto. Hannah notices my eyes on her and quickly looks away from my sister and laughs with Konkuro at Naruto.
"Oww what was that for?" Naruto complains.
"Gaara's meeting with the Hokage is none of your business!" Temari yells back.
"Oh I'm sure that's all you were upset about, it had nothing to do with his comment about you and your boyfriend…" Konkuro pushes Temari's buttons just too far, and a look he and I know well rises in Temari. That's when Konkuro decides it's time to run.
"Oh come on guys don't make this escort thing a pain! Wait up!" Naruto screams running after my siblings.
"Haha, your brother reminds me of Naruto in a way." Hannah laughs.
"Yes they are very similar in ways." I reply honestly.
"Well if you want I'll show you where you'll be staying while you're here and if you ever visit again." Hannah said.
"Yes thank you." I say as Hannah and I turn to walk into the village. "Hannah you said 'and if you ever visit again' what do you mean by that?"
Hannah and I walked through the newly rebuilt village, Naruto had told the truth, things were returning to normal. The shops are open, while civilians and ninja alike pass us through the streets. Several children run in-between Hannah and I as we continue on our way while Hannah explains "Well while the village was being rebuilt Naruto suggested that in order to show our support of a continued alliances between the villages, we build a house for any visiting Kage and their teams. I'm pretty sure he was mainly thinking of you and your team though. Everyone considered it a good idea and the house was built neighboring the Hokage's mansion. Inconsequently your house is also neighboring Naruto!" Hannah finished carrying the same smile she wore when she met him at the gate. I was beginning to believe she wore this smile most of the time.
"How do you mean inconsequently?" I ask.
"Well there was also building built across from the Hokage's mansion to house all of the ninja without families, there is no need for us to have large homes that take up space in the village when we are here only half the time. And we decided we would rather be near the Hokage in case of crisis than be strewn throughout the village in homes." She explains.
"Us?" I ask questioningly.
"Yes I live there too, I'm like Naruto, my parents died soon after I was born and I have no memories of them." She told her story so casually and without any sound of regret. I could tell Hannah was strong, made strong by her life circumstances. I knew how it felt to grow up alone.
Hannah's expression told that she needed no one to say they were sorry for her life. The confidence she wore, I wasn't sure if it was real, but if it wasn't I admired her for faking it. I knew we were getting close as what could only be the Hokage's mansion rose above the village buildings. It looked almost identical to the old one he knew, just new and more polished.
Hannah led us right in front of the Hokage's office and into the building facing it on the other side of the street. It was a large house with a beautiful lawn and ornate woodwork. It was three stories high and the top floor had a large window in the center about half the length of the house.
"Here we are!" Hannah chimed as she walked down the path to the house. She entered the house and moved about the obviously familiar layout giving me the tour. The inside was just as impressive as the outside with fancy furniture and large windows covering the back wall showing off the beauty of the backyard. It was equally beautiful as it was functional, I immediately knew Naruto must have had a part in designing it. There was large training areas connected to the yard beside ours that must have been where he and the other ninja would live.
"Well this is floor is the kitchen and lounging room, the second floor is for your team there are three rooms so Naruto will probably stay in it while you are here. And the third floor is your room." At her words she leads us up the stairs past the hallway that would surely lead to Temari and Konkuro's rooms and into a small area with a door into the third floor. After going through the door we entered a large office area, the large window I had noticed from outside was at the back of a large desk and faced the Hokage's mansion. There were numerous couches that made up the room, but the room's most surprising feature was the large paintings and pictures of my village that lined the walls. The room was almost as nice as my quarters at home. Hannah had been right; this house may have been meant to house any Kage, but it had been designed for my team. This was all ridiculously unnecessary, but I was grateful.
"It's wonderful thank you Hannah." Hannah's smile grew at my thanks, as she turned for the door.
"Well I'll let you get settled in; your bedroom is through those doors." Hannah pointed to a pair of large double doors just to the right of the desk. "If you need anything or want to go anywhere, I'll be downstairs." And with that Hannah closed the door and left me in my oversized office to wait for the Hokage.