This story starts during the time skip, during Naruto's training with Jiraiya. Pretty much all we know about Gaara during this time period is that he becomes Kazekage. This story begins during the time skip and is based on the manga, not the anime. Matsuri will not be included. Gaara was never her teacher, and anything else from the anime fillers will not be included. I'm assuming that everyone, with the exception of Gai's students and Temari and Kankuro, were 13 when they took the chunin exams, meaning that they trained for a year after becoming genin at 12. According to canon, Temari is 3 years older than Gaara, and Kankuro is 2 years older. The story starts when Gaara is 14 and has already passed his second chunin exams. It was decided that the fastest route for him to become Kazekage was to join Suna's anbu forces. Oh, and this story will also be romance. It will just take a while to get there. It will be Gaara x OC. There are not many known ninja from the Sand village, so I figured if Gaara was going to date a girl, we wouldn't actually know who she is; therefore, there are many OCs. Please forgive my ranting and enjoy the first chapter. And I don't own the Naruto series.
Chapter One – First Mission
Gaara strapped his new mask onto his face. He had no idea what animal the anbu mask was meant to represent. It had a stripe of green under each eye, but other than that, there were no distinguishing features. He thought it might be a lizard. They were common in the desert after all. Gaara let out a sigh. He had no problem joining Sunagakure's anbu forces. Sunagakure's Council had told him it would be the fastest way to win recognition in order to become Kazekage. Gaara wasn't sure how wearing a mask would help him become recognized. Along with becoming an anbu, he was being forced to complete D ranked missions around the village so that villagers would see him as someone helpful instead of a killing obsessed monster.
He fastened his pack to his hip and jumped out of his window. The waning moon was high in the sky, and Gaara had never felt so light, both physically and mentally. One stipulation of becoming an anbu member was that he was not allowed to carry his gourd. It would be a dead giveaway to his identity to both allies and enemies, and thus his mask would become pointless. He did however have a small version of his gourd stashed away inside the pack attached to his hip with enough sand to create more sand by crushing rocks if needed. Gaara was not used to not having his heavy gourd on his back. It made his steps lights. The lack of glares from villagers as he sped by made his steps lighter, too.
He had yet to meet his new anbu team. The Council, filling in for the lack of Kage, had only handed him his new uniform and told him to meet his new team by the village gates at midnight. Gaara slowed once he came closer to the gates. Three other anbu were standing there.
"Tokage-san," one of the anbu said as Gaara finally reached the group. Gaara sighed. His mask was a lizard after all. He was never terribly fond of lizards. "Tokage-san," the anbu broke Gaara from his thoughts, "I am this squad's captain. You may refer to me as Kuma-san. This is Taka-san and Usagi-san," he said while gesturing to the two other anbu wearing a bear and a rabbit mask who then bowed at the mention of their names. "I am also this squad's medic. If you get injured or poisoned, tell me as soon as possible. This might be your first anbu mission, but you are expected to keep up. Falling behind is not an option. If you are a liability, you will be sent home and stripped of your anbu title. I will brief all of you on the mission on the way there." Kuma-san turned around and began sprinting out into the desert. Taka-san and Usagi-san followed suit. Gaara gave one last sigh and then started after his new team.
They had been running through the desert for nine hours in complete silence, and Gaara knew that he had never made such good time while traveling through the desert. For once he was glad he had Shukaku. He was positive he would be exhausted without the demon replenishing his chakra. They were already almost at the oasis near Wind Country's northeast border, a trip that takes most ninja at least thirteen hours. Kuma-san began to slow down once they reached the oasis. When everyone had stopped, Kuma-san turned around.
"As you may have guessed, we're heading to Amegakure," Kuma-san began. "Our target is Himura Osamu, a traitor who has been selling his village's secrets. We have been contracted by Amegakure to take him out. He lives just outside the village wall, and, according to our sources, has high level genjutsu placed around his house. That should be the only trap set, but be on the lookout. Taka-san," Kuma-san turned to the anbu standing next to him, "I want you to neutralize the genjutsu. Usagi-san and Tokage-san, I want you two to neutralize any weapon traps and kill any and all guards. We were told that genjustu was the only trap, but our relationship with Amegakure is strained at best. There is a good chance that we were lied to in the hopes to take out two enemies with one stone. After all threats are neutralized, I will kill Himura. Himura's house is three kilometers almost straight east of the border. We will rest here until nightfall." After finishing his speech, Kuma-san sat down next to the water and began to refill his canteen.
To say the least, Gaara wasn't thrilled. It was about eleven hours until the sun went down, and that meant eleven hours sitting under a hot desert sun with only the little shade the palm trees at the oasis offered. Gaara let out his longest sigh yet and went over to lean against one of the trees. He started to meditate. He wasn't able to sleep because of Shukaku, and if he had to just sit around in the heat, he might go crazy, and Gaara going crazy usually meant bloodshed.
"Oi, Tokage," a feminine voice yelled out. Gaara's nonexistent brows furrowed together. All he wanted to do for the next eleven hours was meditate, not listen to loud women. He got enough of that from his sister.
"Taka-san, unless you want to tell all of Amegakure we're here, shut up," Kuma-san said from his spot by the water. "And besides," he continued, "Usagi-san's asleep. Try not to wake her up again."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Taka-san said in a quieter voice while sitting down next to Gaara. "Just talking won't wake Usagi-san up or tip off anyone of our location. More importantly, Tokage-san, as our new rookie, we don't know anything about you. We have eleven hours. Start talking. Gaara visibly gulped. He wasn't fond of talking in general or talking about himself or bossy women. Today was just not his lucky day.
"You might as well," Kuma-san called over to them. "If Taka-san can't sense anyone nearby, we're safe. We're in the middle of nowhere. No one will overhear the conversation."
"See!" Taka-san said while peeling her mask off, "It's fine. Now, mask off! Introductions are in order!" Gaara looked wearily at his new companion. She had short brown hair that was sticking to the sides and back of her tanned neck with sweat. Her brown eyes were shining and her mouth was cracked into a smile. She was obviously waiting for Gaara to start being friendly. When it became obvious it wasn't going to happen, she frowned and tried to swipe Gaara's mask off of his face. When she tried, sand came up to block her hand. Her face went blank for a second, but then she started to smile again. Gaara started to sweat. Now she knew who he was because of his sand. She probably wouldn't want to be on a team with him anymore. "You're Gaara!" she exclaimed. "Awesome! Now I won't have to do any work!" Under his mask, Gaara's face was switching through emotions faster than ever before. His new teammate was excited to work with a demon? That was definitely the first time he had ever gotten that reaction.
"Haruka," Kuma-san said while he walked over to them, "yes, he is Gaara, and no, you can't stop working just because he's on our squad now." Haruka started to pout. "Gaara, you can go ahead and remove your mask. It's against protocol, but since Haruka over here has already broken it, it doesn't matter. We have to keep our masks on at all times, even within Sunagakure, so this is really the only time we'll ever be able to get to know each other," Kuma-san said while removing his mask. He had dirty blond hair that was slicked back and muddy green eyes. "I'm Yamada Kaito, and over there is Tachibana Miyuki," he said while gesturing to the still sleeping Usagi-san, "and this here is Hino Haruka." Gaara slowly reached up to remove his mask. Even the hot desert air felt good against his flushed face. He blinked rapidly at the sudden brightness. He eyed his new teammates. The two that were awake seemed nice enough and seemed like decent ninjas; they were in anbu after all.
"I was wondering if you might be Gaara, with the red hair and all," Haruka said while tapping her chin. "I wasn't sure though because you don't have your giant gourd strapped on your back." Haruka leaned over and squinted her eyes at Gaara. "How old are you? Like twelve?" Gaara started to have a coughing fit.
"I'm fourteen," Gaara stated after recovering from his coughing.
"Fourteen?" Haruka asked with glee. "Aw, you're just a baby! I'm twenty five and Kaito over here is twenty seven. Big age difference, huh?" Haruka added while counting the years on her fingers. "But Miyuki is sixteen, so you guys are pretty close in age." Gaara glanced over at Miyuki who was still in her rabbit mask and still sleeping.
"Ma ma, Haruka, you're being too loud," Kaito said while waving his hand at Haruka. "You'll wake Miyuki, and she needs her rest. You should really be resting, too. You never know what tomorrow will bring."
"Hai, taichou," Haruka said while mock saluting. She slipped back on her anbu mask while muttering under her breath. She sat a meter away from Miyuki and laid down.
"You, too, Gaara. You might not be able to sleep, but you still need to rest," Kaito said. "I'll take first watch. You go ahead and meditate." Kaito walked to the next tree and sat up against it while he slipped back on his mask. Gaara could sense him probing the area for any foreign chakra signatures. Gaara was mildly surprised that Kaito knew he could not sleep. As captain of the anbu squad, he was probably told about Gaara and his insomnia. Although, it was common knowledge in Sunagakure that if Sabaku no Gaara falls asleep, chaos will occur.
Gaara pushed that thought out of his mind. Just ten more hours, then the real mission would start, and the sharp pains in his skull he had been experiencing would go away. Shukaku would get his blood, and then Gaara could be free of his taunts. Since meeting Naruto, Gaara had become better able to both control and ignore Shukaku, but it had been over a month since Gaara had gone on any kind of "real" mission, according to Shukaku at least. The demon wasn't particularly happy with Gaara, and was letting Gaara know loud and clear with violent headaches. Gaara sighed and let his mind drift into a state of semi-consciousness that would allow him a break from both reality and Shukaku's taunts while still maintaining the consciousness needed to control the demon. Gaara's breathing and heartbeat slowed as he reached the closest thing to sleep he'd ever get.