Hallo, I am back! Earlier this time, too. I don't really have anything to say, though thanks are given out to those who've reviewed- thanks a lot. Getting reviews always makes my days. As for my other story, Going Back, I will be posting what I'm going to do for that story soon- you just got to wait a little bit. Happy (early) Valentine's Day!
Also, there is going to be a scene that may seem like it's going to be yaoi. I promise it will not be yaoi. I've learned that it's better to warm the readers ahead of time. You guys can be a tough crowd when you want to be.
Enjoy!
Legend
"Talking/jutsus"
'Thinking/signing'
"Bijuu talking/special effect noises"
'Bijuu thinking'
Summary:
Team Seven, also known as Team Ayatsuru of the Hangyaku, was a force to be reckoned with. And when they are assigned an important mission to go back and stop nuke-nin Orochimaru from killing the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, how will the trio change the fabrics of time? Will the three be able to stop the reoccurring pattern of past Team Seven's? Tight-bonded Team Seven (brother-sister relationship), minus Kakashi. 100% chance of no yaoi. So relax.
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It was a sight for those in Konoha, indeed, as they saw what was to be a lasting memory. Their beloved Uchiha Clan survivor currently had the- loudly protesting- demon brat slung over his shoulder with their pink-haired teammate walking right along with the Uchiha, a scroll in her hand. As to why things were the way they were with the team, the villagers really didn't have a clue. All they could do was watch as the trio of 'genin' passed them by, seemingly heading for the Uchiha District.
Naruto was put out, to say the least. He really didn't want to go back to the Uchiha Clan grounds; for one, it stank of blood and gore, even after five years of time. And then there were the memories he had here that he really didn't want to remember… Besides, he liked his old apartment; he was kind of looking forward to living there after nine years.
Sighing, Naruto gave up trying to escape Sasuke's clutches, knowing it would be futile to resist. If he behaved, maybe they'd let him have one night alone in his apartment.
Deciding to take the risk Naruto spoke. "One night," He said.
Knowing what his leader was talking about, Sasuke responded, "Why?" It was a valid question; why let the one he was grateful to live in such a dump when he could provide him with everything?
"Memories," The blonde replied, knowing he'd stricken a cord when he said this. His tow teammates knew that the rundown apartment he had called home for so long was precious to him. "Just one night is all I'm asking for." He said. "Besides," Naruto added with a smirk. "There are, most likely, a whole bunch of things you've missed in my apartment." The blonde's smirk grew larger as he felt Sasuke tense underneath him.
"What do you mean?" The raven-haired boy asked.
"Oh, OI don't know. Maybe the fact that what I consider most valuable is hidden with complex seals that I just so happened to learn when I was younger?" Naruto was silently laughing, by now, at the last Uchiha's reaction. On the outside to whoever was watching, it would appear that the Uchiha was stoic, and was feeling nothing. But Naruto knew better; after working with Sasuke so long, he knew how to differentiate his teammate's body language. At the moment, Sasuke was angry, though mostly annoyed.
"Fine," The Uchiha gave in, knowing that his leader would, in one way or another, manage to get to his apartment tonight, with or without him and Sakura knowing. Said female just sighed at her tow male teammate's interaction. She was used to this by now, of course, but it was still tiring just watching the two argue when all three of them knew who would win in the end.
Arriving at the Uchiha District five minutes later, Sasuke navigated his way through the house with ease, leading him and Sakura (Naruto was still slung on his shoulder, much to the blonde's chagrin). Sasuke stopped when he arrived in front of a large door, to which he slid to the right, leading them into what was the living room.
Walking inside, Sasuke pulled Naruto off of his shoulder and placed him gently onto a cushion.
"I swear you're bipolar," Naruto said to the Uchiha. "One minute you're rough, the next you're all soft."
"So, would you have preferred me to drop you on your ungrateful ass?" Sasuke asked the blonde, a smirk on his face. "It is a hardwood floor, you know."
"It wouldn't be anything new to me," Naruto retorted, and the smirk on his teammate's face dropped while Sakura winced. Their blonde leader's past was told (reluctantly by said blonde) and both were surprised that he had stayed in Konoha that long.
Their thoughts were interrupted when Naruto suddenly tensed. He glanced around nervously, as if someone was going to attack him.
"What's the matter Naruto?" Sakura asked, watching her teammate with a slightly worried glance. Slightly because she knew her teammate could take care of himself, but that didn't mean he would be going up against a civilian. For all she knew he could be hiding from the ANBU because of a prank he pulled. While there was doubt Naruto could actually sneak into ANBU Headquarters, there was still the chance he could.
"Well, I kind of pulled a prank earlier today…" Naruto started, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Sasuke sighed, while Sakura narrowed he eyes.
"You didn't happen to prank the ANBU, did you?" The pinkette asked, her tone accusing him.
Naruto blinked. "How'd you know?" He asked before quickly placing a hand over his mouth, realizing that he had just admitted to doing the prank whilst there were ANBU very close to the Uchiha District.
"You never learn do you, Naruto?" Sakura scolded the blonde, who had the decency to look a little shameful at getting scolded. Sighing, Sakura asked the question that both she and Sasuke wanted to know: "What did you do?"
Naruto didn't respond right away. Apparently the ANBU had heard that he had heard the word 'prank' and immediately connected the blonde as to why they were wearing yellow and hot pink uniforms today.
Glancing around to try and change the subject, Naruto looked at the clock and his eyes bulged. Jumping up, Naruto quickly made his way to the exit.
"Oi, Naruto! Where are you going?" Sakura asked, slightly annoyed that Naruto hadn't answered her question.
"To stop a tanuki!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder, quickening his pace. He only had two hours to swing by his apartment to set everything up before he had to meet Gaara. There was a lot to do, and he had a limited time. Naruto wondered if he should use the Shunshin no Jutsu to get to his apartment. While he'd have more time, he would also be informing his ANBU followers that he knew this jutsu, and while he was all for using jutsus, he didn't want to be interrogated so quickly.
Making a Kage Bunshin, Naruto used the smoke that came with it shunshin to his apartment. Meanwhile, the two clones he made would be doing the jobs he assigned them; one running back to his apartment so he wouldn't look suspicious, the other running to the store with a henge on and grabbing some ink. He was pretty sure that Sakura and Sasuke had sealed up the ink he had up at his apartment, and knew that if he went back now, he might not make it in time for his meeting. It was a good thing that he always had three pots of ink on him at all time, in case he needed to make new seals up on the go, or if he just wanted to try out some new seals. Either way, he had it.
Arriving inside his apartment, Naruto flicked on the light on and immediately set to work. Unsealing one of the scrolls he had in his kunai pouch, he took out the pots of ink (he didn't know how much he'd need, but it was good to have it and not need it rather than need it while not having it) and a stack of thin paper, which he had found were the best for making seals. Reaching into the scroll, Naruto also took out his brush. He'd been using this one ever since the toads had hooked him on sealing; he also found out this was the brush that his Ero-Sennin used to make seals. Naruto had been using the brush ever since.
Dipping the brush in the first pot of ink, Naruto set to the task of making the seal. As he painted the fluid strokes of his seal, he remembered how he had made this seal specifically for Gaara; he knew he'd be going back into the past, of course. It was just a matter of time before he was sent back, and so, he had made seals for all of the Jinchuuriki, knowing that when he went into the past again, he'd meet up with all of them.
Putting the finishing touches on the seal, Naruto checked over it for any mistakes he might've made. There were none; in fact, this was probably the best version of the seal he'd made yet.
Satisfied with his work, Naruto began tidying up the apartment, knowing that both he and Gaara would be too tried to do it later. Thanking Kami for the fresh food in the fridge and cupboards (Iruka must have been by, thank god) and the clean sheets and towels in the cupboard, Naruto went about making an expansion seal, one of the more useful seals he had created. The expansion seal was created so that an object could increase its size or decrease it. It also could be used on living creatures; he remembered using it on Kei, Chiyoko's (the head medic for the Hangyaku) ten month-old baby. Naruto chuckled to himself; he remembered how Kei had started crawling after Sasuke, trying to pick him up. Now, why Kei had chosen to go after the Uchiha, Naruto really didn't know, but the results were hilarious. By the time Naruto had reversed the expansion seal to revert Kei back to his original size, Sasuke was on his back, trying to catch his breath. Sasuke wouldn't talk to him for the rest of the day after that. While it was boring not talking to him, putting the seal on baby Kei had had one of the best results he had ever produced and he didn't regret it.
Finishing the expansion seal, Naruto walked over to his bed (which already had been made) and placed the seal on the bottom of the bed. Channeling chakra into the seal, the blonde watched with satisfaction as the bed tripled in size. It was now a lot bigger, and definitely comfortable, if Naruto had anything to say about it. He then sealed up his brush (after washing it) and the ten ink pots (his Kage Bunshin had bought him seven other bottles besides the three he had) back into the scroll.
Looking at his clock, Naruto saw that he had fifty minutes before he needed to leave. 'Impressive timing,' Naruto thought to himself as he made his way towards his kitchen. Looking into his fridge, he noticed that he had the ingredients to make Gaara's (the Gaara he had known in the future, anyway) favorite meal: teriyaki chicken with nectarines and white rice with sake and chocolate cake for dessert. This had been told in secrecy between the two Jinchuuriki while Naruto had visited Suna on a political mission for Konoha. Gaara had told him (with a blush that nearly had Naruto laughing) that their was this one restaurant he went to once a month where they had served this dish. When the red head had learned that Naruto could cook, and was a pretty good one, he practically demanded the blonde make it for him. Every time he went there since, he'd be required to make it for the red head. Naruto supposed it was Gaara's inner child that had never been shown in front of others, but he complied, happy that he was making his best friend happy.
So caught up in his thoughts, Naruto hadn't realized that he was almost done with both dinner and dessert when he snapped out of it. Creating a Kage Bunshin, Naruto left it to finish dinner while he left the apartment.
Jumping over the roof tops, Naruto quickly made his way to the Hokage Mountain. Being the first one of the two to arrive, Naruto relaxed and viewed Konoha; the last time he had done this was the night before he had left to join the Hangyaku. He stood there a while, enjoying the beauty his home had produced.
Five minutes after he arrived, Gaara arrived, silently stepping behind him. Turning around to face his fellow Jinchuuriki, Naruto gave him a soft smile. "You ready to get some sleep?" He asked, knowing that Gaara would pick up on what he was saying.
The red head nodded, and Naruto put a hand on his shoulder. He shunshined back to his apartment where the clone had just finished dinner. Needless to say, the redhead had been surprised. But since the redhead merely showed any emotion, he raised an eyebrow.
Naruto shrugged to the raised eyebrow. "What? I thought you'd like some food before putting the seal on. I can promise you that my cooking isn't poisoned. In fact, many have said it to actually be good."
Sitting at the table, Naruto smiled when he saw Gaara sit in the chair across from him. The clone served them their food, and out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Gaara drool slightly. Silently snickering, Naruto started to eat with Gaara soon following. While neither of them talked at all during dinner, it was a comfortable silence, each knowing that the other wouldn't discriminate against the other for something they had no say in.
The two finished dinner soon after, the whole chocolate cake being consumed (cough*gaara*cough). Naruto had the clone start cleaning up while he addressed Gaara on the seal.
"Now," Naruto said, going from cheerful to serious. "Show me where your current seal is." Gaara complied, taking off his shirt to reveal that the seal was on his heart.
"No offense- wait, yes I want to be offensive- the person who applied the seal was pathetic. Anyone who has a decent understanding if seals know not to put it there." Naruto shook his head, clicking his tongue.
"Alright, I'm going to place my seal on your shoulder. My seal is designed to work like mine, except without my soul being taken to Shinigami-sama." Naruto informed Gaara, who nodded. "You'll be able to sleep regularly at night, and Shukaku's chakra will leak into yours; you'll still have control over sand, as it is Shukaku's element. Also, the priest won't be in contact with you anymore." The confused look on Gaara's face made Naruto sigh a little.
"You see, you have Shukaku sealed inside of you, but you also have the insane priest sealed in there as well. It's also the one you call 'Mother'." Dawning showed in the red head's eyes, and so Naruto continued.
"You will no longer have to fulfill the bloodlust that the priest is demanding of you. The downside to this seal though is that its going to hurt like a bitch, and I'm going to pass out right afterwards because of the chakra requirement. Do you still want to have this new seal?" Naruto asked. Gaara nodded, and Naruto picked up the seal. He then took off his shirt, to which Gaara raised an eyebrow at.
The blonde rolled his eyes. "I'll have you know I'm straight, thank you very much. I needed to take off my shirt because, like I said earlier, the seal doesn't require for my soul to be taken, but a lengthy amount of blood needs to be sacrificed. Now, go lie on the bed on your stomach while I go find a sharp knife."
Gaara did as he was instructed and leaned down on the bed on his stomach. He was glad that he had fed blood to his mother before coming to meet him. 'Mother' was pleased with the blood and was currently sleeping. Realizing that the 'mother' was in fact the insane priest, Gaara was glad that the new seal would block it out. Of course, Gaara would never admit this to the blonde, let alone say it.
"Alright, I found a big enough knife," Naruto said, walking over to Gaara. "This will take only a minute, but you cannot move. Moving would, most likely, kill both of us, and if it didn't, the ANBU would, assuming we were taking off our seals to let our bijuu free." Gaara nodded, and Naruto made a giant slash on his right shoulder to get the blood sacrifice.
Wincing as his skin was cut open, Naruto was quick to pour the required amount onto the seal. Seeing that he had enough, Naruto pulled his shoulder up a little bit, and Kyuubi's chakra quickly healed the cut. Placing his hands on the seal he had created, Naruto started pouring chakra into the seal. The seal itself started glowing, and Naruto felt Gaara tensing up. He didn't blame his fellow Jinchuuriki; he knew this was really painful when applied.
After what seemed a very long time, the minute was up, and Naruto stopped the flow of chakra to Gaara's seal. Observing his work, Naruto noted with pride it had been applied perfectly.
"Alright…the seal was applied…successfully…" Naruto fell unconscious die to the loss of chakra and blood. Gaara, who was about to collapse himself, sent some of his sand to turn off the light and lock the door before he, too, gave into the comforting blackness.
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Sasuke and Sakura were currently walking on the main street of the village, heading towards their blonde-haired teammates apartment so they could catch breakfast before heading to the meeting. They were interrupted when Temari came up to them, worry etched onto her features.
"Have you seen Gaara?" She asked, worry also in her voice. "He left last night, telling us that he was going to get blood for 'Mother'." Temari flinched slightly at the mention of the bijuu, but she continued on. "But he never came back."
At that time, Kankuro came up, shaking his head. "I haven't found him either. Baki-sensei's going to be pissed."
Seeing the looks on the Suna shinobi's faces, Sakura spoke. "Maybe Naruto knows," She said. "We're heading over to his apartment right now; do you want to come?" The two Sabaku's nodded quickly, and the four of them walked to Naruto's apartment.
Arriving at Naruto's apartment, they walked up to the third floor where he resided. At his door, Sasuke took out a spare key to Naruto's apartment.
"You have a key to his apartment?" Temari asked with a raised eyebrow. Sasuke nodded before explaining.
"I have a spare key for the times where he's still asleep and we have to wake him up. There are also times when he locks the door because he's injured, and knowing that the villagers wouldn't hesitate to attack him while he was weakened, I have a key to get in an get him out before they get to him." Sasuke explained to the two appalled shinobi. This treatment was even worse than what they gave Gaara back in Suna.
Sakura nodded at their shocked looks. "The villagers here are incredibly hateful. We wouldn't even blame him for defecting the village. He's been beaten so many times here its amazing that he's still alive." Sakura explained. Normally she wouldn't tell them information about Naruto, but these two were a special exception; their little brother was Gaara, Jinchuuriki of Shukaku, and it was important that they know that Naruto was a Jinchuuriki as well.
Unlocking the door, the four stepped into the apartment and walked in. What greeted their eyes was a surprise.
There was a bed- one larger than Naruto's- in the middle of the room, but that's now what shocked the quartet. No, what surprised them was how the two were on the bed, Gaara hugging Naruto like a teddy bear. Personally, the girls thought it was cute, for they all knew that the tow Jinchuuriki were both straight.
Sasuke though, had figured out why Naruto had wanted to come back to his apartment for one night. "He's made a new seal." Sasuke stated to the rest of the group.
"What?" Temari asked, blinking.
"The reason why Gaara went out last night was because, apparently, Naruto told him he had a new seal for him. Undoubtedly, this new seal's much better for Gaara; you'll see a big change in his attitude towards you and the others of your village soon." Sasuke explained.
By then, both Temari and Kankuro were looking over at Gaara's right shoulder where his new seal was located. The elegant lines formed all over his right shoulder, looking like an exotic tattoo.
"I think we should leave them be for a little while," Sakura told the group. "Generally, when Naruto makes a seal to seal something, they take up an enormous amount of chakra and blood. It also hurts the person being sealed. It'd be best to let them sleep a little while longer." Finishing her explanation, Sakura left two soldier pills on the kitchen table and walked back out the door, the others following her. Sasuke locked the door again and the four decided on going to breakfast before going back to pick up their Jinchuuriki's.
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And that's a wrap ya'll! What'd ya think? I liked writing this chapter. Now, the scene where they find Gaara and Naruto was based off true facts. I've been on trips before where I've had to share a bed with my big sis. When we woke up in the morning, we'd be in the position I used for Naruto and Gaara. So no biggie.
Please review!