Sorry for the late update. I have been really depressed and just found the courage to write again. Here's another chapter.
Naruto had gotten up early on the day they were supposed to go back to the academy. He and his friends had trained all summer but did take a day off to rest their muscles and to just hang out with each other. Hinata was gaining more confidence, which made him and Gaara happy for they wanted her to have more confidence in herself and to ignore what other people say. Gaara had also improved with his sand so much that he was able to control it with no problems at all and even learn some new jutsu's just like he and Hinata did.
He opened the door to his room and walked out, as soon as he closed the door he felt a presence right behind him but didn't panic because he knew who it was, "Hey Gaara, you ready?"
Gaara nodded, "Hopefully it wont be boring."
Naruto simply smiled at his best friend and walked away with Gaara following right behind him. They came into the kitchen and saw Himeko had made them breakfast, "Hey there you two, excited with going back to school?"
Naruto simply shrugged, "I guess."
"Hopefully it won't be boring." Gaara repeated.
"You already said that." Naruto sat down and ate his breakfast. Well there was one good thing about this and that was being able to see Iruka-sensei and Hinata so it wasn't all that bad.
"I'm really excited," Himeko smiled washing the dishes, "I'll be there to pick you both up when school let's out, okay?"
"Got it, see you later Nee-chan," Naruto and Gaara got up from the kitchen table and walked out of the house leaving a smiling woman behind, "But…I do want him to make new friends though."
Academy Building
Naruto and Gaara were the first to enter the classroom and found it empty, which was to be expected because it was early in the morning. The two boys sat in the back with Naruto sitting next to the window and Gaara sitting next to him.
"Wonder if Hinata will come in early too?" Naruto wondered out loud. He didn't hear Gaara respond which didn't bother him all that much.
"She's here." Gaara told him.
Naruto turned to him, "How do you…" he stopped talking when he saw his friend had one of his eyes closed, "Nevermind…"
Gaara smirked and opened his eye.
Hinata came in the classroom and immediately went over by Naruto and Gaara, "Good morning, Naruto-kun, Gaara-kun."
"Hey, kinda surprised to see you here early in the morning." Naruto commented.
She smiled, "I wanted to get a good seat so I came early," She sat her things down next to Gaara, "What would you guys like to do?"
Naruto brought out one of his scrolls, "We'll I'd like to talk about the new jutsu I've been trying to get right but for some reason I can't."
"Jutsu?" Gaara questioned.
"Yeah, it's called Rasengan. I've been trying to get it right for the past three days but can't seem to get it, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Also, it turns out I just got lucky when I used Fūton for the first time because when I tried it again I was really exhausted." Naruto frowned.
"Actually, I'm having problems with the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four palms. I tried to go past Thirty-Two palms but couldn't seem to get it right, father didn't seem happy about it either." Hinata looked down sadly.
"When is he ever satisfied with anything?" Gaara stated.
"Gaara's right, your dad doesn't seem to care all that much about anything." Naruto agreed.
"I-I suppose." She confessed.
"For me, the problem I have is trying to control the Gold Dust technique. It's not as easy as the current Kazekage makes it out to be." Gaara confessed to his own problems referring to his father's Gold Dust sand.
"So all of us are having problems," Naruto stared out the window, "I'll ask Ero-sennin what I'm doing wrong, but I've been improving with my Fūinjutsu."
Gaara nodded, "I'm controlling my sand a lot better than before."
"Um, there's a new technique I've been practicing. W-Would you like to see it?" Hinata asked.
Naruto smiled, "Sure, we can see it after school. We'll go to the usual place, oh that's right Himeko-neechan's gonna pick us up after school. She can come with us."
"Naruto, what about your dōjutsu? Have you been practicing it?" Gaara asked.
The blonde gave him a serious look, "No, not yet. But I was thinking about it though, maybe I'll train with it tomorrow after school. The scrolls talk about the abilities the eyes have so I was thinking of practicing them tomorrow at the training grounds."
"I'll go with you." Gaara told him.
"M-Me too." Hinata wanted to give him her support.
"Thanks guys." Naruto smiled then stopped when he saw some kids finally walk in the classroom. The blonde can smile freely around Gaara and Hinata but the others? He found no reason to really. The kids in the class have given him and Gaara curious looks seeing the blonde was calm and the red haired kid next to him looked uninterested.
Iruka was walked in the classroom about 5 minutes later smiling at the blonde who gave a nod in return, "Welcome back class, hope you enjoyed your summer vacation because its time to get right down to business."
The class groaned.
Shikamaru put his head down on the desk, "Oh man, what a drag."
Choji ate his potato chips, "Can't be that bad."
"If you say so," Shikamaru looked over at Naruto noticing he was sitting next to Hinata Hyūga and some red haired kid he'd never seen before, "Wonder who that kid is?"
"Hm? You mean the one with the red hair? Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him around here before." Choji commented.
"Me neither." Shikamaru stared at the boy; he kept thinking there was just something about him.
Sakura and Ino were ogling Sasuke who was paying them no attention or believing they didn't exist at all. Sakura and Ino were glare at each other from time to time but making Shikamaru sigh and mumble, "Women…"
Iruka began lecturing about the Hidden Villages in different nations peaking Naruto's interest making him think back about what Jiraiya told him over the summer.
Flashback
"Bijū?" Naruto blinked.
Jiraiya nodded, "There are a total of nine Bijū's." You've got the Ichibi, the Nibi, the Sanbi, the Yonbi, the Gobi, the Rokubi, the Nanabi, the Hachibi, and the Kyūbi."
Naruto touched his belly, "The Kyūbi…"
"Gaara's the Ichibi host." Jiraiya informed.
Naruto closed his eyes, "Hey Ero-sennin, what's a Jinchūriki?"
The man froze, "How do you…"
"When me and Gaara were talking on the swings back in Sunagakure I overheard some adults call him a "Jinchūriki." Naruto explained.
The man sighed, "Jinchūriki means "Power of Human Sacrifice." That's what they call individuals who have a tailed beast sealed inside of them."
"Power of Human Sacrifice…" Naruto frowned.
"Each village has someone who has a Tailed Beast sealed inside them, well except Sunagakure because Gaara's here in Konoha now. The Jinchūriki are treated as human weapons for the village instead of real people." Jiraiya confessed.
"I'm not a human weapon! And I won't let Gaara be one either!" Naruto stated fiercely.
"I know you won't," Jiraiya smiled, "Because of the large chakra control and difficulty controlling it the Jinchūriki are often hated and ostracized by their fellow villagers treating them no different than they would the Bijū they contain within themselves."
Naruto looked down, 'So that's why they would always give me those hateful glares or sometimes ignore me and why Gaara was treated so badly back in his village.' He looked up at the man giving him a fierce look, "I don't care what they say, we're human beings not weapons. Also…I believe the Bijū didn't even as for this in the first place, not just us."
Jiraiya raised a brow, "And why do you say that?"
"Because I know it! Kyūbi isn't a weapon and neither is the Ichibi! When I thought I've been alone this whole time I realize that I wasn't because the Kyūbi's been with me the whole time watching out for me. And I just know the Ichibi's been looking out for Gaara too!" Naruto smiled.
Jiraiya couldn't help but chuckle, "Your one of a kind Naruto. But there's something I want to ask you."
"What is it?"
"Do you hate the village?" he asked seriously.
"I don't." Naruto answered immediately taking Jiraiya by surprise, "I don't hate them because there are people here in the village I want to protect. The people that accepted me don't see me as a demon but as a person and I care about their opinions the most."
Jiraiya blinked, 'This whole time I thought he wouldn't understand even if I told him. Naruto's seen to much hatred for his age.'
"Hey, do the other villages have their own Jinchūriki?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, Sunagakure doesn't have one anymore like I told you because Gaara's here living in Konoha now. Kumogakure has two just like Konohagakure does now, they have the Nibi and Hachibi, Kirigakure has two the Sanbi and Rokubi, Iwagakure has two the Yonbi and Gobi, and Takigakure has the Nanabi." Jiraiya explained.
"Wow, so the only village that doesn't have two is Takigakure?" Naruto questioned.
"Pretty much." The man shrugged.
Naruto wondered how they were handling being in their villages.
Now
Naruto was listening to Iruka as he talked about Kumogakure and saw Hinata flinch a little when he talked about them and made a mental note to ask her about it later. After the lesson was over Iruka told everyone to go to the training area to do some Taijutsu practices and to pair up if they wanted to. Naruto watched everyone get up and leave but Gaara and Hinata stayed behind a little bit along with Naruto.
The blonde finally got up, "You guys ready?"
Hinata gave him a determined look, "Yes! I've been practicing at home when no one's watching."
Gaara nodded and stood up following his two friends out the door to do some Taijutsu practices. They may have practiced over the summer but they still wanted to practice.
Training Area
The class was currently outside waiting for Iruka to give them the signal to start their Taijutsu training. Naruto, Hinata, and Gaara were standing behind everyone else.
"Alright everyone you can either pair up and spar with each other or simply work on your own with the logs before you." Iruka told them.
The class started to disperse while Naruto looked at his friends, "So what do you guys wanna do?"
"You and me can spar with each other if you want?" Gaara suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Naruto shrugged, "What about you Hinata?"
"U-Um, I'll just watch the two of you spar if you don't mind?" Hinata wondered.
"That's fine." Naruto said as he and Gaara got into position.
Shikamaru was leaning against a wall with Choji standing right next to him eating his potato chips, "Man this is such a drag."
"Yeah." Choji agreed eating a potato chip.
Shikamaru watched as Sasuke easily took down another student making Sakura, Ino and the other girls fawn over him but the raven-haired boy didn't seem to care one bit. He then turned his attention towards Naruto and Gaara and almost had his jaw drop and hit the floor. Naruto and Gaara were currently having their own sparring session ignoring their surroundings; Gaara sent a kick at Naruto who blocked it and sent his own but Gaara blocked that too. Both boys separated from each other still ignoring their surroundings unaware that they were being watched by Iruka, Shikamaru, Choji, hell even Sasuke was watching them.
They came at each other again sending punches kicks and even flipping in the air a few times trying to land at least one hit on each other, Naruto kicked Gaara sending him back a little but his sand protected him from the hard kick taking everyone by surprise including Iruka.
"Sand?" Iruka mumbled.
Gaara grit his teeth, "I need to work on not having my sand protect me while doing hand to hand combat."
"Its not a bad thing Gaara," Naruto said walking over to him, "You can still fight and use your sand at the same time, if someone tries to hit you from behind it'll keep you safe."
Gaara sighed, "If you say so, but I still want to improve on it a bit more."
"We can work on it when its time to go home if you want?" Naruto suggested.
"That'd be nice."
Hinata came towards them, "Watching you two fight is always amazing."
"Thanks, you wanna tag in?" Naruto questioned.
Before she could say yes another kid got in the blondes face, "That was amazing! Please spar with me!" the boy bowed.
Naruto gave him a deadpanned stare as did Gaara but Hinata looked nervous.
"Uh…" Naruto said.
"I am Rock Lee, and even if I cannot use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu I can still use Taijutsu! Watching your sparring match has ignited a youthful passion within me! Please spar with me!" Lee got in Naruto's face making the blonde back up a little.
Naruto's eye twitched, 'What should I do? Say yes?'
Gaara looked annoyed and was about to use his sand on the boy but Naruto intervened before he could do anything, "Uh…sure…"
Lee's face brightened up and he bowed, "Thank you very much!"
Naruto looked over at Hinata giving her an apologetic smile, "Sorry Hinata."
She shook her head, "It's okay, I'll just spar with Gaara-kun."
Gaara was still giving Lee an annoyed look but sighed giving Hinata a nod in return.
Naruto pat Gaara on the shoulder, "Don't look so annoyed, we can always spar later."
Gaara nodded, "Right."
Naruto and Lee got into position facing each other Lee had already taken his Taijutsu stance, the one Gai taught him. Naruto didn't take a stance standing completely still but knew not to underestimate anyone. Ero-sennin taught him that the hard way. As soon as a leaf from a tree fell to the ground Lee came at Naruto sending a kick aiming for his head but the blonde grabbed his leg and swung him around and away from him. Lee flipped in the air landing perfectly on his feet coming at the blonde again sending a punch this time but Naruto blocked it sending his own punch which Lee blocked himself. Both of them jumped away then charged at each other sending fast punches and kicks blocking them as they did so making the whole class watch them. Lee sent another punch at the blonde who grabbed his arm and pinned the boy to the ground ending their sparring match.
Naruto got up, "Your really good at Taijutsu."
Lee sat up quickly, "Do you really mean that?!"
The blonde shrugged, "Yeah," He walked away not seeing the bow Lee gave him while also ignoring the looks from everyone else including Iruka and went over to see Hinata was panting a little while Gaara only looked a little tired, "All done?"
Gaara nodded, "It was nice to spar with Hinata."
She blushed at the compliment, "Th-Thank you, Gaara-kun."
Gaara nodded, "But…now I'm bored."
Naruto deadpanned while Shikamaru and Choji sweat-dropped, "What else is new?"
Iruka gave Naruto a worried gaze because his it seems his personalities completely changed from what it use to be, 'Naruto, what happened?'
With the Taijutsu class over they practiced their weaponry practice next first starting out with shuriken. Iruka instructed them to practice their shuriken throw by having throw them at the logs and to try and hit the bull's eye if they could.
Naruto and Gaara were throwing their shuriken's at the logs just like everybody else, while also talking at the same time.
"Gaara, do you miss your village?" Naruto asked out of curiosity tossing a shuriken at the log hitting the red dot in the middle of the target.
Gaara didn't stop throwing his shuriken at the log, "A little, but that's because I miss my siblings…and Yashamaru."
"Siblings? I didn't know you had siblings." Naruto said.
Gaara nodded, "And older sister and brother, their names are Temari and Kankuro."
"I see."
"Naruto, when Hokage-sama told me that Yashamaru really did love me…it made me really happy." Gaara confessed.
Naruto didn't say anything because he could tell.
"He really loved me and asked Hokage-sama to take me away so I could be happy," Gaara turned to the blonde, "I'm really glad you came to my village and talked to me. I'm really glad you're my friend."
The blonde showed a small smile that got Shikamaru's attention making him raise a brow, 'Did something happen?'
Sasuke stopped throwing his shuriken and looked over at the two boys eyeing Naruto specifically seeing the blonde's changed personality and for some reason he found himself curious of the change.
Iruka was worried, he was happy that Naruto's improved over the summer but still…he couldn't help but feel worried. He made a mental note to ask the boy what happened later. Then there was that red haired boy with him who manipulates sand, could he be from Sunagakure? Did Hokage-sama bring him here? So many questions that he wanted to be answered.
Lunchtime came so Naruto, Hinata, and Gaara were eating outside instead of in the class with everyone else. Hinata had a homemade bento while Naruto had brought out two bowls of ramen, one for him and one for Gaara.
"Naruto."
The blonde slightly turned his head to the side and saw Shikamaru walking over with Choji following right behind him.
"Hey Shikamaru." Naruto greeted then unwrapped his bowl of ramen as did Gaara.
"I-Is there something wrong?" Hinata stuttered.
Shikamaru scratched the back of his head, "Well, I wouldn't say there's anything wrong…"
Naruto had already started eating his lunch as was Gaara.
Shikamaru took a deep breath and gave the blonde a serious look, "Naruto, what's wrong?"
Choji knew his best friend was going to ask sooner or later, he just wasn't expecting it to be now.
Naruto stopped eating and looked at him, "What do you mean?"
Shikamaru looked directly in the blonde's eyes and definitely felt something was different, "No…its nothing." He sat down on the ground right along with Choji.
Gaara took out some soy sauce he had hidden in his breast pocket making Naruto give him a deadpanned look, "Gaara…where did you get the soy sauce?"
"Himeko-san bought it for me." He stated bluntly.
"You…" Naruto rubbed his temples.
Shikamaru and Choji were confused as to why it was such a big deal until they saw the red head pour the whole content onto the bowl of ramen and began to eat it with a satisfied look on his face. Choji just stared at the red head but Shikamaru looked at Naruto demanding for an explanation, the blonde merely shook his head and continued eating.
Maybe he should start having his older sister stop buying Gaara the soy sauce.
Lunch was soon over and the kids were right back in class listening to Iruka lecture about the different nations and its leaders, after that he assigned homework to the students, which was a written assignment and dismissed class. Naruto, Gaara, and Hinata left immediately before Iruka could even call out to the blonde for him to stay a little bit, but there was always Ichiraku.
Hinata decided to wait for Himeko along with her two friends. They were headed towards the gate where they saw Himeko waiting for them waving with a smile on her face. They went over to her and she grabbed Naruto and Gaara's hands ignoring the looks the woman was getting from the parents of the other children, Himeko didn't care about the villagers one bit and if they so much as try to harm a member of her family she'll slaughter them without a second thought. The Uzumaki clan don't take kindly to those who hurt their kin or their friends. Naruto and Gaara told her that they wanted to go to their training place, which she agreed to and took them there so they could train.
They arrived at the training place they've been using all summer and decided to watch Naruto try out Rasengan again. He took out a water balloon from one of his scrolls and held his hand out with the water balloon in the palm of his hand. He began trying to burst the water balloon by rotating his chakra with immense concentration.
Himeko sat down on the ground along with Hinata and Gaara observing the blonde as he was trying to pop the balloon.
Himeko sighed, "When did you get here?"
"Just now." Jiraiya announced making Hinata and Gaara jump, they didn't even sense him until just now but Himeko was able to. Amazing.
"What is he doing wrong?" she questioned.
Jiraiya stared at the blonde who made the water balloon move but not pop at all, "He's rotating it to the left when that's not the direction his chakra flows."
"So it flows to the right then, interesting." Himeko looked back over to her nephew.
"Does it matter which direction where your chakra flows?" Gaara questioned.
"It does actually," Jiraiya responded, "See a good way to build up chakra in the body is to spin it into a tight spiral like a spring. Whether the chakra's spins to the left or the right depends on the individual. Some people are left rotation types, some are right, since he's spinning the water balloon on the opposite direction from his natural rotation type his chakra's just counteracting itself."
"I didn't know that." Hinata blinked.
"Most ninja in training figure it out eventually and so will Naruto, just you wait." Himeko grinned.
Meanwhile Naruto was trying to figure out why he wasn't able to pop the water balloon, 'I'm getting it to move but not pop, rotating it isn't as easy as Ero-sennin made it out to be.' And idea then struck him, 'Wait a minute!' he lifted the water balloon up again and this time instead of rotating the chakra inside the water balloon to the left he decided to rotate it to the right and as soon as he did the water balloon exploded in the palm of his hand, "I-I did it."
"That you did," Jiraiya said approaching him, "Congratulations you passed the first step, now onto the second."
"Right." Naruto nodded.
Jiraiya held up a rubber ball giving it to the confused blonde and pulled out another one holding it before him, "Let's see if you can pop this one." the rubber balloon became more bumpy as it went wild in the mans hand and practically exploded taking the blonde off guard, "And let me tell you it's a lot harder than popping a water balloon."
Naruto nodded silently.
Gaara and Hinata couldn't believe what they saw, "W-Wow…that was amazing." Hinata complimented.
Gaara nodded, "It really does look hard to do though, but Naruto can do it."
Himeko smiled at the two children, 'These two will also grow strong and continue to grow stronger.'
"You've got the first step down, which is rotation but this one requires force," Jiraiya explained, "But this object is solid, there's no water inside so its far more difficult to exert your chakra rotation on it."
"It looks hard," Naruto stared at the rubber ball, "Can I really do it?"
"I know you can, but you'll be in a lot of pain." Jiraiya told him seriously.
Naruto chuckled dryly, "I'm used to it."
Hinata looked down sadly, while Jiraiya, Gaara, and Himeko looked ready to kill someone.
"Don't make that face, you look scary." Naruto joked.
Jiraiya simply chuckled and rubbed the boy's head then walked over towards Himeko and the kids watching the blonde try and do what Jiraiya did but with two hands.
Naruto held the rubber ball in one hand and started to move his other hand around the rubber balloon moving it around rapidly his whole body was surrounded with his chakra as he moved his hand that was around the rubber ball rapidly spinning it around as he focused all of his energy on making it pop while ignoring the pain he was starting to fell in his hands, 'Heh…he's right, this is painful! But…I've been through much worse than this!' he endured the pain as the rubber ball began to spin out of control until finally it popped practically exploding sending the blonde backwards but Gaara's sand caught him before he could slam into the trees behind him. Gaara had the sand bring his friend gently down to the ground where he and Hinata were hovering above him with worried expressions. The blonde opened his eyes weakly, "Hey…looks like I completed the second step…but he was right…that was freaking painful…"
Hinata smiled weakly, "Yes, I suppose so."
Gaara stared at Naruto's hands and winced internally, 'It looks painful, but knowing Naruto he'll ignore this and continue training.'
Naruto sat up slowly facing Jiraiya who appeared in his view, "So…what's the last step?"
Jiraiya bent down, "I think you should take a break for awhile, your hands could use it. Also, why don't we let Hinata and Gaara show us what their having trouble with before we practice Rasengan again, alright?"
Naruto nodded weakly and laid back down on the sand, "Hey Gaara…your sands really soft."
Gaara smiled.
Jiraiya chuckled and looked over at Himeko who stood up, "Hinata-chan, you said you were having problems as well?"
Hinata blushed with embarrassment, "I'm trying to complete the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, but I can only manage to get to Thirty-Two Palms."
"I see," Himeko brought her finger up to her chin, "Okay, you and me will have a sparring match and I want you to take it very seriously Hinata, no hesitating because I won't hold back."
Hinata stood straight, "Y-Yes ma'am!"
"Good." Himeko moved over by the logs as did Hinata they were facing each other. Jiraiya sat down next to the sand near his godson and his friends as they prepared to watch the girls have their spar, "Okay Hinata are you ready?"
Hinata activated her Byakugan and got into her stance, "Y-Yes!"
"Good." Himeko's hands were surrounded with her chakra as she came at Hinata quickly taking the small girl by surprise and just barely got out of the way when the older woman sent a punch at her that made a huge crater in the ground.
Jiraiya couldn't help but sigh, "Hopefully she wont kill the girl."
"Hinata will be fine, I believe in her." Naruto said sitting up slowly looking at his older sister and friend spar.
Gaara nodded in agreement, "Hm."
Hinata came at Himeko matching the woman with her chakra encased fists but the difference between them was too great and the girl was sent flying away from the woman hitting the ground hard.
"Hinata!" Naruto was about to go over to the girl but she stopped him.
"No!" Hinata yelled stopping the blonde from going over to her, "I'm okay! Please don't interfere!"
"Hinata…" Naruto could only stare at her seeing her eyes were the same as his. Burning with determination. He had no choice but to back off and watch as the girl got up slowly getting back into her stance.
"Let's continue please!" Hinata said with determination.
Himeko smiled at the girl's determined spirit, "Then let's continue!" she came at the little girl again and Hinata was determined to not disappoint Naruto, the person whose opinion she cared about the most. Hinata was doing a pretty good job at dodging the woman's attacks not wanting to get hit again waiting for the perfect opening so she could use her trademark move and hopefully make it to Sixty-Four Palms. Keeping her eyes focused on her opponent she finally found the opening she was looking for and got into the Juken stance, "Jūkenhō: Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)!" she hit the woman's chakra points.
"Two Palms!"
"Four Palms!"
"Eight Palms!"
"Sixteen Palms!"
"Thirty-Two Palms!" she could feel herself at her limit but she refused to stop at thirty-two palms and pushed to the limit, "Sixty-Four Palms!" she sent the red headed woman back.
"She did it!" Naruto smiled.
"She made it to sixty-four." Gaara smiled himself.
"I'd say she pushed herself passed her limit by sheer willpower alone." Jiraiya grinned.
Hinata was panting seeing the woman was on he ground unmoving only to be surprised that she was replaced with a log, 'Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Jutsu)?! When did she make the switch?' she felt herself fall backwards only to be caught by Naruto before she could hit the ground.
"Your amazing, Hinata." Naruto said softly.
Hinata blushed crimson red and stood up automatically, "Th-Thank you…Naruto-kun."
Himeko giggled appearing next to Jiraiya, "They are just so cute~ I can't wait for them to get married~"
"Don't you think your rushing them a bit? Their just kids." Jiraiya said.
She turned to him slowly smiling the whole time, "I'm sorry did you say something?"
Jiraiya could feel her killing intent and it was as scary as Kushina's if that was even possible, "N-No ma'am!"
"That's what I thought."
Naruto and Hinata walked back over to them and Gaara stared up at Jiraiya, "Do you know of a method to controlling Gold Dust?"
Jiraiya thought about it, "From what I understand, Gold Sand is difficult because it uses magnetic properties. It's possible that it's a kekkei genkai meaning you'll be able to master it eventually, just keep training."
Gaara nodded with determination.
Himeko smiled, "Alright children why don't we head home now, Hinata do you want me to take you home?"
"U-Um, if its okay with you I'd like to spend the night if that's okay?" Hinata asked hesitantly.
Himeko squealed at the girl's cuteness and hugged her, "You are just way too cute! Of course you spend the night you little cutie!"
Jiraiya sweat-dropped, "You might wanna let the girl go, she looks like she can't breath."
"Oh! Sorry!" Himeko let Hinata go the girl's head spinning back and forth.
'Never a dull moment.' Jiraiya commented.
It was starting to get on his nerves.
There aren't many things that can annoy Gaara, but the kids at the Academy were really starting to get on his nerves. The red head saw some boys trying to bully Naruto but the blonde merely ignored them and walked away preferring not to start any conflict but they decided to charge at him anyway from behind so the blonde retaliated by sending an elbow to the gut to one of them, tripping the other and for the last one he just chopped the back of their neck rendering him unconscious. He saw the blonde sigh and walk over to him, "Hey Gaara, sorry to keep you waiting."
"It's fine." Gaara smiled. Both boys left the training area but the red head looked behind him and saw one of the boys glare at Naruto from behind. Gaara made a mental note to deal with them later.
There was something else that irritated Gaara only a little bit, and that was Sasuke Uchiha the last of the Uchiha clan. For some reason he would give the blonde a side glance but only Gaara noticed it, Naruto didn't. Currently the blonde was talking happily with Hinata who would blush a little but looked like she was enjoying herself making him smile, these two just seem to fit each other. But he was getting off track, it wasn't just that Sasuke would glance over in Naruto's direction in the classroom but outside as well almost like he was observing him trying to see his abilities making Gaara slightly nervous. He didn't know why he was getting such a bad feeling from the boy but he didn't like it one bit, hopefully he was just overthinking things. Hopefully.
It was lunch time and Gaara, Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, and Shino were outside with them. Gaara had met Kiba when Naruto treated the little dog's injury when the little dog got hurt by some kids who were trying to start something with Kiba. As for Shino, Naruto had almost stepped on one of his bugs but Shino came out of nowhere stopping him just in time. Naruto apologized for almost hurting one of his insects and the bug boy accepted. Shino's been with them ever since.
Gaara had already finished eating his lunch much to Kiba's horror and Shino's fascination. They have witnessed Gaara's soy sauce addiction even though the red head denied it. Gaara felt they were being watched and stood up.
"Bathroom?" Naruto questioned.
Gaara nodded, "I'll be right back." And with that he walked off to the other side of the building.
No mercy.
Gaara didn't walk inside the building instead heading over to the forest part of the building, "Come out." The bushes rustled and out came the same three boys that tried to hurt his best friend.
"Heh, it's just the wimp." One of them sneered.
"Yeah but he's that loser's best friend."
"Meaning we can rough him up teaching that loser a lesson in not to mess with us."
Gaara glared, "I suggest you leave now."
The boys didn't take his threat seriously because they approached the red haired boy who simply surrounded himself with sand taking them by surprise making them stop in their tracks, "I told you to leave, but you didn't. Too bad for you," The sand moved around him and the bullies backed away slowly but Gaara wouldn't have any of that and had the sand grab each of them trapping them in their own sand coffins, "You have two options, One: Never bother Naruto again. Two: Disappear and never be heard from again. Your choice."
The leader of the bullies nodded to the first option with tears in his eyes making Gaara scoff and drop him along with his buddies, "Get lost." He said coldly and they took off running.
Gaara sighed, "You can come out now…Shikamaru."
Shikamaru came out from behind the building, "You knew I was here the whole time?"
"I did." Gaara said.
Shikamaru approached the boy, "Was that really necessary?"
"Yes." Gaara answered immediately.
Shikamaru had only spoken to Gaara few times and knew he was very loyal friend to Naruto just like Choji was a very loyal friend to him, but didn't think he'd do something like threaten someone's life. He didn't judge though because he knew Gaara was only doing it for the blonde's sake but still.
"If you had killed them Naruto wouldn't be happy." Shikamaru stated.
Gaara said nothing but knew Shikamaru was right, "I know. Naruto is important to me, and I don't want to make him sad. However, I will eliminate anything I perceive as a threat without mercy."
Shikamaru could tell he was serious about what he said and sighed, "Troublesome. Something tells me Naruto feels the same when it comes to you and Hinata."
Gaara walked past him, "He feels the same with you all too."
Shikamaru turned his head towards the red heads retreating figure and sighed then smiled a little, "Troublesome."
Naruto blinked a few times.
He went home and passed out on his bed after finally getting Rasengan right but not without hurting his hands again, god was Hinata scared that he may have permanently damaged his hands but he told her repeatedly he was okay calming her down a little. Gaara was just as concerned knowing that he pushed himself a little too far but the blonde reassured his friends that he was fine. After that he and Gaara walked home with the blonde a little wobbly but Gaara hovered around him in case he passed out on his feet. They made it home with the blonde passing out as soon as his head hit the pillow and now he found himself in a strange place. There was water on the floor he noticed and looking around he saw the place looked like an underground sewer or something.
"This is weird…it feels like I've been here before…" Naruto started walking forward while still looking around, "I remember this…there was something else here, something big…" he kept walking until he finally arrived to his destination and boy did he get a surprise. Staring right at him was a giant cage that held a giant orange fox that grinned at him.
"Haven't seen you in a while." The fox grinned.
Now the normal person would be scarred or feel overwhelmed in this situation but Naruto wasn't normal, instead of feeling fear he felt amazed, "Your…the Kyūbi."
The fox kept his grin, "Heh, I was expecting you to feel fear but I forgot this is the same brat that came here before and simply fell asleep on me."
Naruto blinked at that information and tilted his head slightly, "So I did come here before, no wonder everything looked so familiar. I can't remember though."
"You first came here when you were three, no matter what I did you just wouldn't leave and even slept on me. Cheeky brat." The fox scowled a little.
Naruto let his curiosity get the better of him and walked towards the giant cage slipping through it easily because of his small form.
Kyūbi observed him curiously, "Oi, what are you doing?"
Naruto looked up at the fox then went near his side rubbing his fur taking the fox off guard, "Soft…"
Kyūbi had to sweat-drop at this, 'Brat hasn't changed one bit.'
Naruto rubbed his cheek against the fox's fur surprising the fox even more especially when the boy chuckled, "I remember now…I fell asleep on you right here. I remember it because it felt so warm."
Kyūbi scoffed, "I should eat you for saying that."
Naruto just chuckled, "You know what?"
Kyūbi grunted.
"This whole time when I thought I was alone I was wrong, I wasn't alone because you were here the whole time," Naruto smiled, "So thanks."
"Hmph, I don't need to be thanked by you." Kyūbi scoffed.
Naruto simply smiled, "Your weird."
"Pot calling the kettle black." Kyūbi shot back.
"Maybe," Naruto didn't deny the accusation, "Hey, do you know about the Rinnegan?"
That got the Kyūbi's attention, "Just now…what did you say?"
Naruto got up from the fox's side and stood before him closing his eyes then opened them back up revealing the Rinnegan, "This."
Kyūbi stared at the boy in complete and utter shock, 'He has the same eyes as the old man! Then he's…'
Naruto made his eyes go back to normal then stared right at the fox's red eyes, "What's wrong?"
Kyūbi got out of his thoughts and answered his host, "Listen well brat, those eyes of yours used to be wielded by the old man. Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki."
Naruto recognized the name instantly, "Hagoromo-jiji…"
"The old man was also the first Jinchūriki as well as a Sage. Those eyes were wielded among the Ōtsutsuki clan, but soon were used by the Uzumaki clan who were direct descendants of the old man, making you one as well." Kyūbi informed.
That took the young boy by surprise, "You mean I'm a descendant of Hagoromo-jiji?"
"That's right, the old man was something else when he was alive. He went by many names, "Rikudō Sennin (Sage of Six Paths), "Shinobi no Kami (God of Shinobi), Kono Yo no Kyūseishu (Savior of this World), the list goes on. He also created us, the Bijū as well as have a Kekkei Genkai known as "Onmyōton (Yin-Yang Release)." Kyūbi explained.
"Onmyōton…" Naruto said.
"It's a non elemental technique, the old man was master of it and created things from nothing while also breathing life into his creations. It's faint but I can sense you're able to use it yourself."
Naruto felt a little happy knowing about that, "Oh, what about the Rinnegan? Does it have any abilities like Hinata's Byakugan?"
"The Rinnegan uses jutsu's known as the "Rikudō no Jutsu (Six Paths Technique), but there are actually seven. With those eyes of yours you can unlock these jutsu's. The first is the "Tendō (Deva Path), which allows you to manipulate both attractive and repulsive forces, the "Shuradō (Asura Path) which allows you to use mechanized limbs, weaponry, and armor, the "Ningendō (Human Path) this one allows you to remove a soul and read a persons mind, the "Chikushōdō (Animal Path) which lets you summon a variety of animals, the "Gakidō (Preta Path) which can absorb all forms of chakra including most ninjutsu, the "Jigokudō (Naraka Path) which lets you summon and control the king of hell, and the lastly the "Gedō (Outer Path) which lets you rule over life and death." Kyūbi went into full detail.
Naruto absorbed all of this in complete and utter shock, "It can do all that?"
"Hmph, way better than the Sharingan. Then again I'm not a fan of the Uchiha's in general." The fox grumbled.
Naruto smiled at the giant fox, "Thank you for telling me all this, even though you didn't have to Kyūbi."
"…Kurama." The fox mumbled.
The boy blinked then grinned, "You even have an awesome name. Then from now on I'll call you Kurama, but only when it's just us though."
Kurama smirked, "Do what you want. Shukaku's vessel is calling you so wake up."
Naruto didn't get the chance to say much else as a bright light blinded him making him close his eyes.
Naruto felt himself be shaken by someone, opening his eyes slowly blinking a few times to clear the fog from his eyes and saw Gaara giving him a worried gaze, "Gaara…?"
"Thank goodness," Gaara breathed a sigh of relief, "You've been asleep for 6 hours and wouldn't respond no matter what I did. Are you okay?"
The blonde sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes then looked at his friend, "I met the Kyūbi…"
"You too?" Gaara blinked.
"What do you mean?"
"I met the Ichibi, he was really big and was surrounded by a lot of sand." Gaara described.
"The Kyūbi was locked in some kind of jail cell," Naruto frowned, "But he told me his real name and told me about my dōjutsu and its abilities."
"Really? Tell me." Gaara asked eagerly.
Naruto told Gaara what happened and how the blonde was a descendant of Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki the sage and "God of Shinobi," and the abilities his eyes have. Gaara sat there and listened to his friend amazed about what he told him.
"Amazing…" Gaara said.
"I know right? By the way, you said you met the Ichibi just like how I met the Kyūbi. What was he like?" Naruto asked out of curiosity.
"A little cranky, so when I told him he should sleep more he got mad at me but didn't try to hurt me at all. He looked like a tanuki." Gaara told him.
"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto heard inside his head making him and Gaara jump at the same time, "Kurama?" the blonde questioned.
"It's me alright! That was hilarious kid! I haven't laughed like that in a long time!" Kurama bellowed making both boys sweat-drop.
"Shut the hell up, Kurama!" Gaara and Naruto heard in their minds, "That was Shukaku just now."
Naruto smirked, "They fight like their siblings…wait they are siblings."
Gaara nodded.
"But I wonder though," Naruto had a thought, "Who's the oldest?"
"I am." Both Bijū answered, "Like hell you are! Stop copying me!"
Both boys sweat-dropped, "Sorry I asked." Naruto said.
Kiba was starting to get annoyed with Sakura and Ino. Iruka-sensei had assigned them to get in groups with as many people as they wanted and discuss what to do incase they run into a ninja that was above them, in other words: Battle Strategy. It was important they do this because in the real world they will have to come across strong ninja when they graduate. The reason he was so annoyed is because Sakura and Ino weren't contributing at all and were too busy staring at Sasuke and listened to his opinion without even giving any of their own. It was a colossal pain in the ass. And then there was Sasuke who for some reason kept staring at Naruto like some kind of creeper, he saw Gaara would give him subtle glares every once in a while as if daring him to do something. He would have snapped at the two kunoichi if it wasn't for Shikamaru who merely shook his head telling him to let it go and that there was no point. Kiba relented but still this was really annoying.
Naruto meanwhile was listening to Shikamaru give some insight seeing as how planning strategy is his thing. Naruto named Shikamaru as captain saying that he was most suited for it. Shikamaru said it was troublesome but took the role anyway.
"So, that's that. What do you guys wanna do now?" Shikamaru questioned.
Naruto plopped down on the ground looking up at the clouds, "Watching the clouds sounds nice…"
Shikamaru smirked following his example, "You read my mind."
Choji was next to Shikamaru, while Hinata and Gaara took Naruto's left and right side. Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino were near each other and it was peaceful until Sakura and Ino started fighting over who would lay next to Sasuke much to everyone's annoyance including Sasuke's. It was at that point where Kiba just snapped, "SHUT UP!" he shouted.
Everyone looked over at him in complete shock. Guess he lost his patience.
"We're trying to relax here after finishing the assignment you two didn't contribute to, and the last thing we wanna hear is you fighting over Sasuke! Its annoying!" Kiba yelled with Akamaru barking in agreement.
Naruto had closed his eyes not wanting to get involved. It had noting to do with him and Shikamaru didn't even try to play peacemaker not wanting to get involved either.
"Mind your own business, Kiba!" Ino yelled.
"No! It's not just me either, it's getting on everyone's nerves!" Kiba retorted.
"Kiba is correct, why is this? Because everyone's tired of hearing the same thing over and over again when it comes to you two and Sasuke." Shino agreed.
"Oh whatever bug boy!" Ino scoffed.
"Yeah mind your own business!" Sakura agreed.
Kiba was this close into setting Akamaru on her but Shino merely shook his head, it wasn't even worth it.
"You two are so troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.
"Shut up Shikamaru!" They both yelled.
He simply yawned in response.
Naruto was staring up at the sky not even caring about his surroundings right now. Closing his eyes he opened them back up when he heard the sound of chirping birds and sat up prompting Gaara and Hinata to follow his actions, "I'm gonna go for a walk." He stood up.
"I'll go too." Gaara stood up.
Hinata wanted to go with them but the blonde smiled saying they won't be gone for long and walked off away from the bickering females and everyone else unaware of Sasuke's trailing after them.
Naruto and Gaara stopped and looked up at a tree watching the birds chirp happily, "It's kinda strange isn't it?"
"What is?" Gaara questioned.
"This," the blonde referred to the other kids, "Talking and hanging out with people my own age. Aside from you and Hinata I haven't tried to get along with anyone else in our age group. It feels weird talking with them like this. Feels like a dream."
Gaara smiled, "To be honest with you I thought the same thing as well. When Jiraiya-sensei fixed my seal and told me I could finally sleep now, I was really scared because I thought you were a dream my subconscious created in my never ending loneliness."
Naruto gave his friend a heartbroken look.
"But," Gaara smiled, "When I woke up and you were right in front of me I realized that it wasn't a dream and that you're really my friend."
Naruto grinned, "Same here."
Unknown to the two boys Shikamaru was hiding behind a tree having heard the whole conversation in deep thought about what they were talking about. He could always ask his dad about Naruto but decided to look into it himself even if he meant he had to break into the Hokage's office to get some answers. Until then he'll act as Naruto's shadow protecting him without him knowing.
Himeko smiled seeing Naruto and Gaara passed out in the living room having finished their homework for the Academy and placed a large blanket over them.
"Fell asleep after doing homework, huh?" Jiraiya walked in the living room with his arms crossed.
"Yes, I escorted Hinata home as soon as she finished. That girl is such a sweetheart but also has the hot's for Naruto." Himeko smiled.
"Probably because they're the same when it comes to being outcasts." Jiraiya said grimly. Naruto was treated as an outcast by the village while Hinata being treated as an outcast by her own clan. Then there's Gaara, but the bond Naruto and Hinata share runs deep, "Tomorrow I wanna teach them weaponry."
Himeko stilled then smiled, "Actually I have a scroll carrying two weapons that will suit both Naruto and Hinata."
Jiraiya just blinked at her in confusion but at the same time eager to see what it was.
Next Time: Prologue: Staff of the Sage!