I promise, this will be the longest AN in the whole story. I just need to get a few things cleared before I actually start this thing up.

But first, welcome to the world of Sandstorm!

I named it this because Sandstorm is basically a collaboration of the two characters' main affinities: sand and wind. I know technically Gaara has wind and magnet, but I'm calling it sand. So yeah, there's that.

This is a hopefully original storyline that I thought of while watching the battle between Gaara and Naruto. Hopefully it works out ok.

I'm also giving Naruto a dōjutsu, or for those who don't know, a bloodline based in the eyes, like a Sharingan. It's also completely made up, but I think fans of ass-kicking Naruto will like it. And while on the subject, Naruto will not be too OP. But he will definitely be a lot stronger than he was in the anime/manga, because of a friend to help him and a rival earlier on.

Pairings? I have no idea as of yet, but all pairings here are straight! No GaaraxNaruto here, only a brotherly relationship! I don't mind homo and stuff like that, but I won't do it in my own story.

Many thanks to the artist behind the profile picture. It was very good, and if I could I would thank you personally. But I'll settle for this. So thanks.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: The only one I'm going to put. I don't own Naruto or any of its elements!

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Sandstorm

A Naruto based fiction

By BlackStarZX

Prologue

A lone boy trudged across the desert. The raging sand around him whipped in the wind, yet parting across the boy as if he was a rock in a river. Nothing touched him. He was not afraid, either. He knew why it was this way, but it didn't mean he had to like it.

The boy's name was Gaara of the Desert.

He had been walking for half a day now. His father, the Fourth Kazekage, had banished him from his own home instead of execution, when he couldn't bring himself to kill his youngest son. The city council had announced the experiment with Gaara a "failure", and should be terminated immediately. The Kazekage thought it best for the village if Gaara was gone forever, yet not gone from this world. If he could survive the wild, great. Yet if he did die, it was not that big of a lost. The father would appropriately feel remorse, but that's all his fatherly instincts would let him do. Shukaku would hopefully die with the boy, and the village would live in peace again.

Gaara walked on for a long time. The vast amount of sand that had stuck with him in the desert was now feeble. And while he was lucky to not run into any missing-nin or regular bandits, starvation was still a problem to overcome.

On the fifth day, Gaara's young body found its way to the entrance of Konoha. The shinobi at the gate immediately perceived him as a threat from another village, but seeing the youngling in such a state made them get the Hokage instead.

Of course, the Hokage saw right through the boy. He knew that the brow-less boy was in fact the jinchūriki of Shukaku, the spirit of the sand. The only problem was making sure he wouldn't rampage in his full form, or if the Kazekage meant for them to find the boy…

But after observing the boy while he was eating and sleeping, the Hokage didn't detect any malicious thoughts from the Suna boy. Instead, the boy was shattered inside. They weren't ready to get a full reply out of him yet, but that day would come in time.

In the meantime, they would need to make sure that nobody found out about the boy's demon. They didn't even know if the boy knew. The village already had a problem with their resident jinchūriki, and if they were to discover another

The consequences would be drastic beyond belief.

So they hid the boy of the desert. They hid him very well, right in plain sight at the local orphanage, and the ANBU made sure to have him watched from the shadows at all time.

The first thing they noticed was that Gaara trusted nobody. Through the two years he lived in that orphanage, he never made a single friend. And nobody came to make him a friend. Make no mistake; he tried to get some friends. But they were all scared of the creepy boy with no eyebrows, the one with the empty eyes and scary feeling. It reminded them of that freak, Naruto, the one who their parents warned them to stay away from.

It was only a matter of time before they figured out the truth.

Konoha had little to no sand, so the gourd sealed in the scroll was his only source of sand. He remembered his father giving him the scroll, explaining what was inside and how he would open it to get the gourd when he was old enough to carry it around.

But as Gaara had no training in fūinjutsu whatsoever, and didn't have the memory to remember exactly how to release his gourd, there was no way to get the gourd.

He had been alone in the village, walking the streets at night, still unfamiliar with the vegetation and the lack of sand. Most of his memories were of this village, but it didn't seem right. He belonged back in the desert, where his siblings were, the only people that loved him. Well, maybe "love" was too strong a word, but they didn't hate him on sight.

'But this place isn't too bad. No one gives me that eye anymore, and I'm left alone but not because of hatred.'

He walked to the academy playground, sitting up onto the swing. 'I'll be going here in 6 years. That's what Grandpa Hokage said at least. But I really just want to go home…'

A gust of wind blew across the yard, and it started. He heard the rising voices of people talking, and stood stock still. Some people from the Uchiha clan were passing by, noticeable from the marks on their jackets. Even a young kid like Gaara knew the symbol.

Gaara didn't know what to do. He smelt a strong, intense odor the closer they got. Alcohol. That was never a good thing for a lone boy at night.

"…brat got away from me at the last minute! I had no idea he was so fast! Goddamnit! I heard the others complaining, so that means none of us can catch him!"

"Bastard deserves it. We'll corner him next time, and then he'll get what's coming to him…"

The three men suddenly noticed the boy with the red hair, and a smile crept onto one of their faces. "C'mon. I know a way we can vent our anger."

Gaara was frozen. What was he supposed to do? These were three trained shinobi, and he was but a lowly, banished student with almost no training as of yet. The only kind he could remember was back in Suna, but that had been a long time ago when he was young, and they had quickly stopped training him. He didn't even know why they stopped, but soon after he had been banished from the only home he had ever known.

"Hey, kid! What are you doing out here all alone, eh? Don't you have your mommy to comfort ya'?" one of them asked.

When Gaara didn't answer, the chūnin rushed forward in a blur and had the young boy in a grip, kunai in hand. "You mute or something, boy? Don't ignore me!"

"Hey, Kuzino, this kid is the one from the orphanage. The strange one that no one ever talks to, and he never talks to us. Remember?"

The one holding Gaara up, Kuzino, thought for a second, and the cruel smirk came back onto his face. "Well then, I guess we're luckier than I thought! This kid has no one to go home too!" Turning to his comrades, he barked out, "Search him!"

The other two chūnin patted Gaara down, eventually finding the seal that he kept with his at all times yet he didn't know how to open yet. "Stop! Please! That's my only treasure!" he tried to call out in vain.

"So is actually worth something?" Kuzino opened it up. "Hmm…seems pretty advanced. But my luck just keeps increasing today! I'm a pretty decent fūinjutsu user!"

Making a sign over the scroll, Kuzino made the fatal mistake of yelling out "Release!"

The gourd popped up from the scroll in a puff of smoke, and the sand instantly whirled to action. Kuzino's comrades were still holding onto Gaara, and his mother did not like anyone trying to harm her son. The sand cut off the hands of the unfortunate man, and they blood tainted the air with a metallic scent.

The men screamed into the night air, now trying to back away from the boy. Gaara had no idea what was happening, but he knew enough to know what blood looked like. He backed away as well, not comprehending the effects surely to come. "T-t-that's not r-r-right! No Konoha shinobi can control sand to that degree!"

His eyes widened when two thoughts crossed his mind at the same time. Even an ass can have a brain, and this one used it to connect the dots. 'Just like that Naruto kid… Sand-controlling shinobi…'

"He's just like that Naruto kid! He's got a demon inside him as well! Shukaku!" The other two's jaws dropped on the realization, but they did not have time to fully comprehend the situation. They were bleeding out, and they needed to get to the hospital fast.

Gaara only watched as the three chūnin ran for their lives, not knowing how easily he could have killed them, still trying to process exactly what happened. He didn't really want to think about it. The hands of the men were still on the ground, and it was really starting to scare him. Gaara picked up his gourd and went off back towards the orphanage. If only he had stayed there in the first place, maybe this could have all been avoided.

It didn't stop there. The next morning the villagers got to the orphanage before the ANBU could come back and retrieve the boy. It was too late by then; the mob wanted the boy to die for housing a demon. Although they couldn't do anything about that Naruto brat, they sure as hell wouldn't hesitate to kill the kid who the Hokage had yet to recognize. As far as they were concerned, this was a matter of public safety. Two people had already lost their hands. What if next time it was their heads?

Unable to hold back the crowds, the elderly lady who owned the orphanage let the mob into the building, searching for the red-headed brat who dared attack three chūnin. When they found his room, his window was open and he had fled outside.

"Don't let the demon escape! We won't have two demons running around!" one merchant yelled. Although it was forbidden to outwardly speak of the Nine-Tails, they had lost it in the heat of the moment. Besides, the Hokage had a lot to answer for letting the Shukaku run around, just like the Nine-Tails! They didn't really give a damn at this point.

Gaara, however, was crying in the sewers underneath the city. He had found the entrance quickly enough, hoping to escape to mob in fear of retribution. He hadn't even meant to cut those men's hands' off! He didn't even know what caused it! Gaara was sincerely depressed. Here he was, in a foreign village, one that particularly hated jinchūriki for some reason, and no frie-

"Hi there. You ok?"

The voice rang out in the darkness of the sewers. It was calm, kind, and above all understanding. Looking up, Gaara saw a blond-haired kid with a bright-orange jumpsuit, a beacon in the darkness of the sewers. He didn't look particularly happy, or sad for that matter. His face gave off an emotion of loneliness.

"N-no…n-n-not really…" Gaara managed to stutter out. This was the first person he had had a real conversation with in a while, and he was not going to screw this up.

"Why were they chasing you? I've never seen you do anything bad before."

"It's…it's because they say I have a demon inside me…"

Naruto froze. A demon? He wasn't stupid, as much as the others came to believe. He had heard the whispers behind his back. 'Demon brat' stood out to him the most.

"What do you mean by 'a demon'?" If Naruto could figure this out, maybe he could finally understand why he was being called this.

But Gaara knew almost nothing of the demon inside him as well. "I-I don't know… I just have some sand that defends without being told. Is that normal?"

No, it was NOT normal. But Naruto wasn't going to tell him. This person was probably the closest person to him that was his age, who actually understood his pain. He instantly felt connected to this person.

"What's your name?"

"My name…is Gaara…"

Without having to talk, Naruto knew that this kid was just as lonely as he was. He had seen this Gaara person every once-in-a-while, but never tried to be friends with him. He expected him to push him way, like everyone else. But it seemed this was not the case.

"How about this, Gaara… You come with me, and then we can be best friends! I won't push you away, believe it!" Naruto gave him his best smile and thumbs up.

"…Sure…"

"Great!" With that, Naruto took Gaara by the arm and went through the sewers. He knew this place by the back of his hand, he wouldn't get lost.

Over the next few years, Gaara became just as hated as Naruto. The Third Hokage decreed that everybody was to leave the small jinchūriki alone, to never mention the demon inside him, or face punishment. Well, he might have quelled the mobs, but the people only did the same thing they did to Naruto for years. Ignore him, tell their children to stay away from him.

However, Gaara didn't mind anymore. Neither did Naruto. They had each other now, and these two became brothers in all but blood. They were alike, and together they were strong.

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So that's that. The shortest chapter in this story. Hope you people like it enough to follow. The beginning of a story is always a hard part, when you have NOTHING. I will be updating soon, no worries there, but hopefully you guys stick around to see what's coming.

The actual storyline will start up next chapter. I still can't believe I'm doing this…

If I have any of my facts wrong, TELL ME! I'm still pretty new to Naruto in general, and your guys' opinions matter. Narutopedia is a wonderful place (I always have a tab with it), but sometimes you just can't find the thing you need, you know?

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Flames will be ignored.

Cheers!