Seeing is Believing

by Animal Arithmetic

Because sometimes, you have to see it to understand.

It was a calm, hot afternoon, just outside of Konohagakure no Sato. Most people, not unlike the fifteen on the hill, had undressed as far as they could without being indecent. For instance, Naruto had shed his jacket and black t-shirt and went instead with a mesh shirt, though still kept his orange jumpsuit pants. Gaara, the man beside Naruto, had shed of his heavy Kazekage robes in favor of his black jounin-like pants and a mesh shirt, much like his blond counterpart. Most of the males were the same, and some, like Kankurou, had only a pair of pants on. No one minded, really. They were a tight group of friends.

Some of the group, like most of the girls, talked quietly to each other. The boys were mostly quiet, trying to doze on such a lovely afternoon. Shikamaru, however, was playing Shougi with his best friend, Chouji. Neither talked as Neji and Shino watched the game. Surprisingly, Shino had also shed some layers of clothing off.

However, the calm quietness couldn't last forever. Ino had suddenly gone quiet within her talk with Temari, Sakura, Hinata, and TenTen. Instead, she was watching Naruto and Gaara making small movements as they talked without words. A brush on the arm here, a light touch to a brow there, and a slight poke here. Just little things like that as their eyes shifted to different parts of their upper bodies that they could see. Though, the two rested on their sides, elbows propping them up, so they could see each other.

"Something wrong, Ino?" her best friend asked with concern.

The blonde shook her head as she watched the two. "No, Sakura. I'm just watching Naruto and Gaara. It's strange how they can communicate like that."

"Not really," the pink haired kunoichi replied lightly. "I'm not too surprised."

"Hey, Naruto?" The man that looked remarkably like the Fourth Hokage glanced up towards Ino to tell her that he was listening and for her to continue as he continued talking-without-words to Gaara. "What is it like to be a jinchuuriki?"

The whole hill silenced, and the entire world seemed to stop breathing as this question was asked. Temari and Kankurou, especially, because they had asked this question to the blond and the redhead, as well, not too terribly long ago. Naruto froze as well, his bright blue eyes stopping on Gaara's green-like ones.

A blink. Should I tell?

A caress of a whiskered cheek. If you wish. A brush of pushing blond locks away from the tan face. They might understand better.

A flicker of blue orbs to see thirteen other pairs of eyes staring back, then back to teal. You think so?

A light touch to the shoulder. I know so.

The blond sighed and sat up, facing Ino. One knee propped up his arm as his left arm laid on his other leg that curled under his right. "Pick a blade of grass."

The others gave him a confused look- even Sasuke, who seemed especially surprised, and except Temari and Kankurou, who let out the breath they had been holding. However, Ino picked a blade of grass and held it up. "Why?"

"Why did you pick that blade of grass?" Naruto countered, looking carefully for his own grass blade. He finally picked one and held it up. "Tell me: why pick that one when there are billions, maybe trillions or even more, to choose from? It is just like this one, right?" His widespread arms dropped back to their original positions as he said this.

"Well..." Ino gave him an even more confused look. "It was just... there... What does this have to do with answering my question?" As an after though, she added, "Of course it is just like that one."

Naruto sighed. "This is harder than I thought... Okay, so there is lots of grass, right? It is difficult to count how many blades of grass there are in the world, right?"

"Yes..." Ino frowned. "It still doesn't answer my question!"

"I am getting there!" Naruto shouted angrily back at the woman. Gaara touched his arm softly. "Sorry... I am trying to make you understand. Okay... Uhm... Find me a four-leafed clover. You guys can help her."

Sakura scoffed. "Why a four-leafed clover?"

Naruto shrugged in reply as he thought of an answer. "You will find out in a minute. Just go look."

"So you are using the same explanation I used for you and my siblings?" Gaara asked, catching the blond's attention.

"It made perfect sense to me," the blond replied, lying back down beside the redhead. "Think they'll look over here?"

Gaara lightly touched the blond's hand. "I don't think so. Is there one over here?"

Naruto chuckled softly. "Right between us. Heh... If they were real shinobi, they would hear this and look over here."

"They are giving us privacy, I guess."

"If they were real shinobi, they wouldn't care."

"Hmm..."

"All right!" Ino stomped over to the two eighteen-year-old boys. "We give up! And I still don't understand how that answers my question."

Naruto sighed, moving only his eyes to look at the other blonde. "Did you look everywhere?" She nodded her head yes, frowning at the blond. Sighing again, Naruto closed his eyes and brushed the grass between him and Gaara. Finding what he wanted, he plucked the four-leafed clover and held it up. "No you didn't. Why did you not look here?"

The others watched as Ino opened and closed her mouth, trying to find an answer. She was having no such luck, and the others were unwilling to help her.

"Why didn't any of you look over here?" Gaara asked, surprising everyone. "You all stayed far away from us. Is it because you were giving us privacy, or you didn't want to be near a jinchuuriki?"

"You aren't one anymore, Gaara," Naruto said softly as he brushed red locks from his face, touching the 'ai' scar. "Besides... I don't care. They are too stupid, anyways. Can't even tell the difference between a blade of grass and a four-leafed clover."

Kiba growled, and the others turned to look at the brunet. "We aren't stupid! You are just not explaining what it's like to be a jinchuuriki!"

At this, Naruto laughed, clutching at his stomach as he curled up. The fourteen others stared wide-eyed at him, and even Gaara was surprised at this. However, the laughter soon died down, and the boy held up the four-leafed clover, a silly grin on his face. "What's the difference between a blade of grass and this four-leafed clover?"

Lee suddenly bounded up to the blond and gave a scrutinizing look to the clover in his hand. "Why, a four-leafed clover has four leaves!"

Naruto sighed, shaking his head, the laughter gone from his face. "Yes... But not the answer I was looking for. Come on, guys. And you call me stupid."

"The clover is rare while there are tons of other blades of grass!" Temari suddenly yelled to the group, frowning at their stupidity.

"No fair!" Naruto gave the blonde a fake pout. "You've heard this already before." When he saw Temari laugh, he sighed for the umpteenth time and closed his eyes. "What I am getting at is the grass and clover are very different. There is plenty of grass, and very few four-leafed clovers, right? How could one associate that with humans and me?"

Ino thought for a moment, the other letting her answer since it was her question. "There are a lot of people, and very few jinchuuriki...?"

Naruto nodded, a small smile on his face. "Very good. Now... Does that answer your question?"

"Yes..." Ino nodded, then shook her head. "No... Not very well."

Biting his lower lip, Naruto flopped over on his stomach, nearly landing on top of Gaara in the process. "I'll just not use the metaphors anymore. It is obviously too complicated to you. Look at it this way- there are very few of us jinchuuriki, right? And then there are many, many 'regular' people like yourselves. Since I have found Gaara, I'm not letting him go any time soon. But, with you, you can pick a person to be friends with that understands you, and then you can go to somebody else and repeat the whole thing. Us jinchuuriki can't do that. For all I know, I could be the only one left."

"What, I don't count?" Gaara asked playfully, smirking at the blond beside him.

"Well you aren't anymore!" Naruto retorted, nudging the other boy with his shoulder. However, there was a smile shining brightly on his face. "We still don't know if the Akatsuki has gotten all of the others yet or not. Back to what I was saying. We jinchuuriki are very lonely people. We have no friends throughout our childhood, or even throughout our whole lives. Hey... Do you want to meet him?"

"... Him?"

"Kyuubi!" Naruto sat up quickly, a grin on his face. "Then you might understand better!"

Something touched the blond's arm, and he looked down to see Gaara's hand. "Is that so wise?"

The blond just waved it off. "Of course! Kyuubi is under strict seals. Of course, he can sometimes get through the cage, but I can protect her."

"W-What?" This, was surprisingly, Shikamaru. The game of Shougi halted because of him as he looked over to the two blondes and the redhead. "Isn't that dangerous?"

Naruto waved his hand as he sat cross-legged, facing Ino. "Not too much. Kyuubi is just a little kit, really."

"Uh-huh," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes at the jinchuuriki. "That monster was nowhere near small. And the time I met him, he got out of his cage and you had given up."

Cerulean orbs rolled skyward. "No. He is actually small. He has to fit inside me somehow, right? The only reason he came out of his cage was because you ran me through with a katana! He'll come out of his cage, hold me close, and wrap me in a warm blanket of his chakra. But no other time! If he does happen to get loose, I'll protect you, Ino. If he hurts me, he hurts himself, you know."

"I'll do it." Ino sat down beside the other blond, ignoring the others' protests. "You will need to lay down for this. Gaara? Will you lay me down once I complete the jutsu?"

The redhead nodded, moving over to the other side so he sat beside Ino. "Twenty minutes should be good, right?"

"If we don't wake up by then, yes," the slightly younger male replied. "Ino, wait for me to fall unconscious. Gaara can tell you when, if you want. Now, when you get in my mind, stay where you are. I will come find you, okay? When you get there, yell out my name. Do not move no matter what. It... It may be a little wet and unpleasant. But don't worry. I'll explain when I met you there."

Ino nodded at the other blond. "Hai." She watched as Naruto fell asleep, then looked to Gaara to tell her when Naruto was ready. A pregnant moment flew by, and the redhead nodded his head. Performing the necessary seals, Ino murmured, "Mind Transfer no Jutsu."

A familiar tugging feeling overcame the young woman, and she waited for it to subside before she opened her eyes. The first thing that she noticed was that it was wet and dark. And was she in a sewer? Seemed like it... The water was past her knees, and she almost took a step before remembering Naruto's words.

"...Ino...?" a voice whispered to her. She had barely caught it.

"Naruto?" she asked back, though it was hardly above a whisper. Gathering her strength, she yelled out, "Naruto!"

"Hold on!" was her quiet response. "I'm coming! What color door is to your left?"

Indeed, when Ino looked to her left, she saw not a door, but another hallway. "It's just a hallway! And to my right is just a wall."

"What about behind you?"

"The hallway continues both behind me and in front of me. I don't see any other hallways or doors."

"Ah! I know where you are." The voice got louder with each word. "I'll be right there! So what do you think so far?"

Ino paused as she thought of an answer that wouldn't offend the blond. "I don't know, really... It's not what I expected."

"How so?" His voice was closer than last time, and to her left from the corridor.

"Well... Most people's mind that I go in to are so... different. It's just a white room or something," Ino explained. "I guess some people have like a field or something... It's hard to explain."

"Ah." The voice was right beside her, and she turned to see Naruto smiling at her. "Well... First you can meet Kyuubi, and then I'll let you look through my memories. That way you can get your answer."

The Yondaime-look-alike held out his hand to the Yamanaka female, a gentle smile settling on his lips. Ino smiled back at him and took his hand. She noticed that the water was nearly to his knees, and that she was slightly shorter than him. Heh... And to think that he had been the shortest before he left.

"How long will it take to get there?"

"Not too long," Naruto replied. "It's just down this hallway."

"Hey, Naruto?" Ino asked once they had walked a good few meters. "What's with the water?"

His shoulders rose, then fell in a half-hearted attempt at a shrug. "No idea. There is a leak or something. But where my memories are is kind of on the floor above us. No water up there. It is kind of like an attic."

"Has it always been this high?"

"When I first met the fox, it was at my ankles," Naruto replied somewhat sadly. "The leak gets heavier each year. From twelve to fifteen, the water rose to about the middle of my shin. Four years later, it's almost to my knees. I asked Gaara what his mind was like after explaining mine, and he said that it was exactly the same... Here we are."

Ino looked up to see another T-shaped intersection. "Are you sure?"

"Ino..." Naruto wasn't mad at her, and this was shown through his smile. "This is my mind, remember?"

"I don't like it..." Ino told the young man truthfully, stepping closer to the other, seeking comfort. "How do you deal with this? Why haven't you told anyone? It's so... dark..."

Again, Naruto shrugged. "I deal with it because I have to. I just... kind of figured that most shinobi had the same mindscape as me. Truth be told... It doesn't bother me. It's just a jail, just a place. Nothing more, nothing less."

"How come you never sound this smart?" Ino asked after taking a deep breath. The corridor seemed to breathe. It did not go unnoticed when Naruto would struggle for breath when the hallway took its own deep breath. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing." Naruto waved it off with a faltering grin. "Just... Are you ready? We have wasted a minute already."

Ino gave him a confused look, but followed him anyways. She was slightly confused that he hadn't answered her first question. "We've only been here for a minute? But it seems much longer..."

"Different time things," Naruto answered with a small sigh. "It's... complicated. We are moving at the speed of thought, really. About five minutes in here for every minute out there. I think. I'm not sure."

"Oh." The female blonde stared down the hallway. "So Kyuubi is down there?" A nod from the other blond. "And you are going to introduce me to him now?"

Naruto nodded at her. "Yeah. We need to hurry so we can have more time to look through the memories."

Ino heaved a shaky sigh and clutched his hand tighter. "I'm scared, just so you know."

"Takes a strong person to admit that," he replied, softly tugging on her hand as he headed towards the jail. As they continued walking, he turned his head towards her and gave her a look that she could not decipher. "You cannot tell anyone outside of the Konoha Twelve, got that? No one can know."

She slightly started to panic and her eyes widened. "Why?"

He sharply turned away from her. "The villagers can be stingy at times."

The male did not elaborate, and the young woman did not ask. She truthfully did not want to know... Yet.

And suddenly, they were in a large room with a large gate in front of them. It was dark in there, and Ino sidled closer to Naruto. No mind she had entered was dark like this. Even some of the darker shinobis that she had come across had a bright spot somewhere.

"It's all like this," Naruto said suddenly, surprising the young woman. "Hey, Kyuubi. How's it been?"

"Terrible," a deep voice whined. Two, glowing red eyes appeared behind the gate. "I'm still stuck in you."

"Tough."

"And who is my lovely new chew toy?" the fox asked, a feral grin etched in every feature of its monstrous face. "Pretty little thing, too."

The young man rolled his eyes. "Yamanaka Ino, Kyuubi. She's a friend of mine."

"Sure," the great fox replied sarcastically. "Like you have friends. They all just toy with you. Once they find out about me, they'll wish they never met you."

"They already know, Kyuubi." Naruto sighed and turned towards the woman. "Ready to go? This thing gives me a headache."

"He looks like a headache," the Yamanaka female teased. She finally realized that the monster could not harm her. "Hmm... He doesn't look like much. I don't see why people are so scared of him."

Kyuubi growled at the woman. "Do not speak of me like I am not here."

"Not like there is anything you can do."

"Brat."

"Don't forget it, Kyuubi." The man gave a sharp nod, like he had made a final decision. "Right. Let's go, now."

The two quickly left, and darkness engulfed the two as they exited the large room. Ino took Naruto's hand again, though this time only for guidance. One would not want to get lost in another's mind, which was what her father would say to her as she learned her family jutsu. Setting that aside, Ino tried her best to see through the darkness of the young man's mind, but had difficulty, seeing as how it was darker than anything she had ever witnessed. It was even darker than her home at night when everyone was asleep, or that one mission where she and her team had to sleep in the very back of the cave, and none of them could even see the light from outside.

"Watch your step," Naruto said softly, tugging her hand to the left.

She shuffled forward cautiously through the water, then stepped up once her toe hit the bottom stair. Once she stepped up, she noticed that the water level dropped. "Hold on, Naruto. I don't want to fall."

"I got you."

Their ascent was slow, but it only lasted a short while. Up here, Ino noticed, everything was in a soft orange hue, though it was faint. 'Typical,' she thought with a soft smile. The two came to a stop in front of a door that blended into the wall, with Naruto hesitating slightly.

"We don't have to, you know."

The man looked over at the woman with sad eyes. His left hand came up to trace her eyebrow down to her chin. But I need you to understand. However, the female did not understand what this action meant, so in a soft voice, he said, "But I need you to understand. I need to show someone. It's crazy, keeping it locked up like this."

"I'm sorry," she said just as softly. "I'll look."

With a deep breath, Naruto pushed open the door. The hinges creaked as it was forced open, like no one had opened the door in an extremely long time. He flicked on the lights and let go of her hand. Inside the room, there were three filing cabinets. One looked slightly beat up and in a dark corner, the second looked in okay condition right beside a TV, and the last one was on the other side of the TV, looking well cared for. The blond walked into the room, followed by the woman, and he stood next to the TV.

"You can watch anything from those two cabinets," he said, pointing to the two that weren't in the best condition. He patted the one he stood in front of. "Just not this one. These moments are private, or very, very special to me. Go ahead and get started watching."

The blonde looked at the cabinet in the dark corner, frowning. "That one doesn't look too good."

"It's just my childhood," he replied nonchalantly as he leaned up against the well-taken-care-of filing cabinet. "The one you are standing in front of has memories from the last year of the Academy up until now. I don't care what you look at."

"Hmm..." Ino went to the large box in the corner and opened the top drawer. Inside were tapes used for movies, and she picked on at random. " 'Age 6- Villagers'?" She looked over to Naruto to get his approval, but he was looking in the nice filing cabinet. Hesitantly, Ino went over to the TV and popped the video in.

A young boy at the age of 6 sat on the swing in front of the Academy. He wasn't really swinging. He was just sitting there, his eyes downcast and avoiding the harsh gazes from some of the passers-by.

'It's not fair.' The boy's thought echoed through the noises of the village. 'Why do they hate me...?'

A soft sob escaped from the boy, but no tears came forth. It was almost as if the boy was afraid to cry in public. Suddenly, he stood up and walked towards the crowd, only to be stopped by them.

"Go away," were their harsh words. "You monster! You have no right to be here!"

"I didn't do anything!" the boy cried pitifully. But the villagers did not listen.

So the boy started running.

The video stopped and Ino wiped away a tear. "Naruto..."

"I'm over it," the man said softly, still looking through the filing cabinet. "I don't hold grudges. Keep looking. We don't have too much time left."

Ino carefully put the video back after taking it out of the VCR and went to the other cabinet beside the TV. This time, she opened the middle drawer and picked one out at random. " 'Age 14- Training'. Was this when you were with Jiraiya?"

The blond nodded. "Yeah. I would think so."

In went the video into the VCR.

"Ero-sannin, I don't wanna get up," a blond muttered sleepily from his bed in their hotel room.

"Well too bad." A white haired man came up to the bed and took the blankets away. "We need to get moving, brat."

"No!" The blond curled up. "Coooold!"

"We could always go home early."

"No thanks!" The blond sprung out of bed and dressed quickly, stumbling sleepily over his clothes and feet. "Can we go to Suna? Pleeeeaaaassseee! I want to see Gaara!"

The white haired man scowled. "No. We are not going to go see your boyfriend. We have training."

The blond blushed at this, but set a determined frown on his lips. "He's not my boyfriend. He's my best friend. Can't we just... like... spy on him? Just for a minute!"

"No, and that's final," the man grumbled. "Maybe after we are done with training, we can go see him."

This brought a grin to the blond's face as he turned back to packing his bag. "Works for me!"

"Now watch this one," Naruto ordered as soon as the screen went blank. "This should give you a good idea as to what it is like to be a jinchuuriki."

Everything was blurry as the trees rushed by.

Then blank.

And then there was a clay bird. 'How did that get there?' a voice asked. "Gaara!" He suddenly remembered the whole reason he was here. The blond clawed at the bird, not caring if he ripped his nails off, not caring when his hands bled. He had to make sure the redhead was okay, was alive.

But he wasn't.

It was blank again, and then he was crying. 'What is this?' he asked himself. But he knew it was tears. Tears for his best friend. Tears for the man in front of him. 'Gaara...' The old lady- what was her name?- was kneeling beside him. Green chakra covered her hands. 'What is she doing...? She looks tired... I'll lend her some chakra.'

And so he did. He gave that woman most of his chakra. He had to save his friend!

And it worked. It worked! Gaara was alive! He wasn't dead!

But... There was something different about him.

No matter. He was still Gaara, right?

And the old woman was dead.

Wait... Dead? Why?

It doesn't matter.

Gaara is alive.

Not dead.

Alive...

Here.

"That was... That was when the Akatsuki got Gaara, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

There was a small silence at this. Because of this, they could hear the drip, drip of the leak.

"I'm so sorry."

"You didn't do anything."

Ino took out the tape and gave it back to the man. "Exactly. You suffered so much, Naruto. You should have said something."

The blond was silent as he put the video back. After the drawer shut with an audible click, he said, "But then I would look weak. I've tried so hard to get this carefree attitude. It's worked so far, hasn't it?"

The woman shook her head. "It can only work for so long, Naruto."

And then they were back in the real world.

"But Ino," Naruto said softly, as he sat up. "The truth is out there somewhere, but lies cover it up. You can't see it at first glance, can you?"

She pondered this for a moment before coming up with her answer, but she had a feeling that he didn't want her to say it aloud. "Am I supposed to be this thirsty?"

The Yondaime-look-alike shrugged. "Don't know, but I'm going to go. I've had enough of the truth for one day." He stood up and took the jacket and shirt from his red haired friend as he waved his friends good-bye.

"Wait!" Ino stood up and took his hand before he could leave. "Why didn't you answer my question in there?"

Naruto looked at her with deep, cerulean orbs that showed everything he thought. Pain, sadness, regret... And yet happiness, joy, excitement. "Because, Ino, I would rather live life as a fool than have people hate me for the truth. You know the game by now."

"What did he mean by that?" Kiba asked as the blond walked away.

Ino watched the man walk off, blinking slowly. After a moment, she turned to Kiba and said, "He would rather have people believe that he is how he is so they can't suspect what he hides. It was so dark, Kiba. His mind was basically a sewer. And the memory of his childhood... And of Gaara..."

"Ino," Sakura said softly as she gave her friend a drink. "What are you talking about?"

The blonde gratefully took the bottled water before answering. "Maybe you wouldn't understand. As they say, 'Seeing is believing'."