It sucks not to own Naruto, I should know I don't got it. Maybe ifI won the lottery I could buy it, that would be awesome...If you would excuse me I have to go hire some ninja to infiltrate the lottery building for me...
Chapter 1: The New Dream! Yoinokuchi Founded!
A new day meant new possibilities, but for two men and a group of children, it meant another chapter was about to be revealed. The stranger sat slightly uncomfortable amongst the children, who we focusing on Rai as if the very meaning of life was about to be exposed. Rai chuckled at the mild torment the new guy was feeling, it was obvious to see that he was not used to children under any circumstances, it must have been strange to be surrounded by something you don't feel fully confident about.
Disregarding such thoughts from his head Rai began to re-tell the tale.
Gaara watched as the boy he thought of as family walk away to his home in the leaves. Gaara felt a bit awkward about having a friend; or brother in his case. He did not fully comprehend the full meaning of affection, or any kind of 'positive' emotion, and he doubts he ever will. It was only up until three years ago that his own village decided to recognize him as a person, and not as a failed experiment. When he was unable to see the blonde anymore he started to quietly stalk to his home, intending to record all of his remaining abilities and finish the annoying paperwork he should have completed three days ago.
"Sister, brother, let us return to our home, we have a lot of work ahead of us tomorrow."
Gaara got grunts of reply from both of his siblings as they ventured back into their domain.
That night, Gaara was doing what he did ever night, he stared at the moon. The mystical ball in the sky was the emotional equivalent of a nightlight to him, it was a sign that everything changed overtime. It has changed every once in a while just like him, seeing as he had changed in almost ever way since the attack against the village of leaves.
Gaara no longer felt spite to his fellow ninja, he no longer held the desire to see blood spilled by his own hands, and no longer coveted the idea to see the absolute terror he earned of being a demon vessel. And everything was thanks to another exactly like him; Naruto plays an enormous part of his life, whether he realizes it or not. The loud shinobi was someone that Gaara desired to be, minus the foolish persona and ear-splitting voice box.
Naruto was always ready to take any challenge, and beat it at any cost…as long as it protected his precious people. He took his loyalties seriously, it was almost his very reason of existence, one so much different from the one Gaara himself had first found. While Gaara at first only lived to kill everyone and everything besides himself, Naruto wanted to protect everyone and everything…except himself. Gaara did not understand how those ideals had given him the strength to defeat him in the Sand-sound invasion…but it did, and Gaara was forever indebted to him for that.
Gaara chuckled at the thought, Naruto could probably change the goals of Akatsuki itself if given a chance; but then again, they had just eliminated two of their members: Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sands, so he doubts that they would accept his application. Speaking of Sasori, they had found some interesting things on his person.
The first was the body of the Sandaime, which would be repaired and given a proper funeral tomorrow morning. The next was the one-hundred puppets he used to fight Chiyo-baa-sama and Haruno-san; every single body would be identified, searched for secrets, be completely destroyed unless if they were Suna and maybe Konoha by origin. The final, and what could be the most important thing, would be a scroll of forbidden and powerful jutsu that Sasori had researched and created in his time of exile; such an item was not taken lightly and is now sealed up heavily in his own office...
Hopefully, no one but those who came to his rescue would know of the scroll, but it is very difficult of hide secrets in a village full of ninja.
The next day was of little consequence, Gaara was mostly contained to his bed for hours at a time mostly sue to his sister's constant complaints. He was able to test his limits on his sand somewhat…he was still able to manipulate as easily as he could before, but he had little chakra to work with so he did not know if he could manipulate it at a much grander scale; so he finally decided to follow his sister's advice and rest to regain his chakra. After the first night's rest he had fallen asleep for nearly two days, his former case of insomnia added up with the extreme exhaustion of having his biju extracted had finally caught up to him…but it gave some very interesting results.
His senses had shot up nearly a dozens fold; his m ind was so clear it was almost haunting to have it so quiet…but it was just as equally welcoming. His clear mind had let him do his paperwork as the leader of his village ion nearly a quarter of the time it was usually done and he seemed to understand things as soon as one explained it to him.
But what had caught his interest the most was how much his chakra control superceded his old level by a staggering amount. He had no reason for this and decided to consult in his siblings and Baki. All three agreed it was disappearance of Shukaku.
Chakra, explained Temari, was a combination of spiritual energy; which was created from physical strength in the body, and mental energy; which was created in the mind. Since his body was completely rested for the first time in years it had led it to be repaired on a level it couldn't before, causing his chakra to become more flexible and powerful. Additionally, his mind has been focused to laser-like precision and efficiency; allowing him to control his chakra on par with some of the more talented medic-nin known to shinobi kind.
Although he lacked the previous level of power granted to him by Shukaku, Gaara now had the tools to create jutsu even more powerful than before.
It was not long until Gaara decided to visit the desert alone to make an entire armory of jutsu for his disposal.
It was now the fourth day after his capture from the hands from Akatsuki.
He had received a messenger hawk earlier that day describing that team seven had arrived safely at home and were now enjoying a well-deserved rest. That was the first bit of good news he had that day.
It was also the last.
Soon after the hawk had come and gone, Gaara was assaulted by a mountain of paperwork whose sheer size matched the home of the Olympian gods. While the amount of effort to complete the task was minimal, the arduous amount of work took the better part of his once-promising morning.
The next wave bad news came in the form of the council, both villager and shinobi alike. They needed to speak about the recent events that had transpired with the Akatsuki and what would be their next move alongside Konoha. The inflamed arguments and zealous tumult had only been silenced by a display of Gaara's new power.
Iron Sand
It had shocked everyone present at the meeting; including his siblings and Baki, he hadn't told anyone that he had found out about his new ability while out training in the desert.
It started out as simple curiosity, he had wondered if the removing of Shukaku had any major impact on his chakra nature. He knew from the terrible whispers of the great beast and research from Temari's own drive that he was born with two chakra elements: Wind and Earth; which would make sand when combined with his genetic code.
He knew he could still control sand, meaning he still had both elements, but Gaara felt an overwhelming sense of curiosity that it threatened to consume him.
Using the chakra-nature identification cards, the results Gaara found were nothing short of astounding; instead of splitting in half to indicate wind or turning to dust for Earth, the innocent piece of white paper crumpled as if an angry writer had taken out its frustration on it.
He now had a third element; electricity.
In another part of the continent the odd stranger was whistling joyously, even if was a bit disturbingly similar to a song that was supposed to be erased from history. He had taken a lot of effort into ameliorating the red-heads molecular, anatomical, and physiological substructures and exterminating all physical inhibitions from his body caused by Shukaku, and decided to calm himself with a soothing Italian tune.
Okay so it wasn't Italian, just Italy-styled but it was still good! Hmm… there is nothing more relaxing the soothing sounds of The Godfather™…
The discovery raised many questions among the red-haired Kazekage, but he knew it was for a different time. When he had displayed the ability during the meeting the room had erupted in pandemonium rivaling that of Krakatoa. Somewhere in the mass chaos Gaara felt a trace of malice spike for only a second before hiding itself under the maelstrom of confusion and curiosity that was rapidly filling the room.
Gaara had brought order back into the council and all settled upon the idea that it was a mutation brought about the sealing methods of Akatsuki or most likely the forced absence of Shukaku.
Gaara decided that he would have to take up his insomniac ways one more night as the foreboding shiver down his spine warned him of a coming danger in the not-so-distant future.
The sandy gong of Sunagakure's Shinto Shrine rang loudly 12 times in the distance. The moon up high had long ago cast its dark blanket around their village and most of its inhabitants were already asleep.
One person still stood in his office, watching the moon with a personal fascination that had grasped him since he was but a newborn. The sense of danger had still not left him…it lingered on hours after the meeting with the councilors, and only grew stronger as the sun hid itself behind the dunes and the moon rose in its place. The feeling of anxiety was only multiplied when nothing happened, Gaara knew his instincts were dead on about something going on tonight…but as for what, well that was the million dollar question.
Gaara yawned, a concept that was extremely rare for him. He had endured not sleeping for months at a time because of Shukaku's curse, and did not so much as bat an aye during those times, courtesy of Shukaku's demented chakra. Furthermore his vision should have deteriorated beyond all measure because of the unbearable strain put upon them, but were constantly repaired and maintained by the said beast. Now that he looked back on it, Shukaku had taken innumerable measures to make sure his body was in prime condition 24/7, and protecting it as much as it could with its power.
The same could not be said for his mentality.
Gaara almost shivered as he thought of his former self; emotionless, blood-thirsty, anguished, insane…
A hissing noise was the only the warning Gaara had before an explosion was set off in his office.
A figure rushed in the room, it rustled around for a moment before letting out a small gasp of triumph before rushing out. He prepared several exploding kunai and shuriken before hand and threw them into the still subsiding dust cloud and waited them to detonate before rushing out in full speed. He had seen the battle between the Kazekage and Deidara in the sky and come to the right conclusion that explosions were the best offensive against such a powerful opponent.
Even though he knew the info he was still ensnared up to his thighs in a large arm made of sand and pulled back the Hokage building violently.
The ninja twisted his body so the giant scrolls already on his back before the fight would not be damaged and felt the full force of the slam crush onto his right arm. He had no time to recover as the sand quickly began to entrap his entire body. Using great efficiency worthy of his skill, he pulled one of the four giant scrolls on his back and opened it to reveal the patterns and seals necessary to seal away medium-to-large inanimate objects. The ninja bit his finger rapidly and spread the blood from the small wound over a third of the scroll, summoning one of three parts of the set hidden within.
(Kugutsu Kuchiyose No Jutsu!) –Puppet summoning technique-
The summoned puppet was nothing special, at least that what it looked like on the outside. It was the standard faceless/hairless puppet sold in shinobi supply depots. It had double jointed appendages with no extensions and detachable main body parts with secret compartments here and there. It was so well maintained that it seemed fresh out of the store.
But Gaara knew better.
The puppet had the puppeteers trade-mark tattered cloth wrapped around it, and this puppeteer's cloth was faded and torn with age and use. Clearly this was a ninja with experience…
And he chose that puppet for a reason.
Gaara willed his sand to float freely about the area, but kept it close together. He would need it to be so to react quickly enough so he would be able to defeat this nuisance.
"I thought that some lunatic like you would come at a later time, but it would seem I was incorrect. I must admit that you must have exceptional skill to bypass the ANBU elites I had placed around this building. Tell me, who are you?"
The figure said nothing as he held the scroll close to his person and had its puppet shift its stance ever so slightly that Gaara almost missed it, all but his eyes were hidden in his regulation Sand shinobi equipment, and it was easy to see that the eyes of the figure were incomplete somehow. Those eyes had either lost something or someone close to them, or it was never there in the first place. Suddenly the puppet rocketed from the floor into the sky and opened up every secret compartment it hand. The figure did a pulling motion with his hand and the puppet exploded in a bright flash, leaving countless pieces of paper floating in the air.
Gaara tried to send his sand to those papers, hoping that they were not what they were…if those things were explosion notes…he preferred not to think of the repercussions.
But he had nothing to worry seeing as the notes only went out with a light pop after the sand had gone through them or when a set amount of time elapsed. Gaara at first thought they were mere distractions and quickly put his attention back to the enemy and was strangely surprised to see he was still standing at the same spot. He was starting to wonder what the hell was going on until he felt his eyelids getting heavy.
(Genjutsu!) Realized Gaara as he brought his hands up quickly to break the illusion.
"Kai!"
Instantly the once unseen bird feathers of the Nehan Shoja no Jutsu ( Temple of Nirvana technique) faded out of existence around a large radius from Gaara. Those in the immediate area around him were spared of the underhanded trick. But the same could not be said for the rest of the village.
(So my 'Secret Blue technique: Suicide Illusion Bombing' was a relative success, shame the Kazekage did not fall for it either…but I guess he did not earn that position for nothing.) The intruder was so engrossed in his thought that he only caught the very last bit of Gaara's statement that he had been making for the last few moments. (Eh, its not I really care what he had to say, he's going to die soon anyway…)
"If you shall not speak, then I must kill you. As the Kazekage of the sand I shall retrieve that scroll with whatever means possible." Without another word said between them, Gaara sent his sand flying to his opponent, who then said something that chilled him to the bone.
"You are not our leader anymore."
The sand started to move frantically, as if alive, and began to return to Gaara's gourd. Gaara paid no attention to it, focusing on the conversation at hand. "What do you mean I am not your leader? By what right do you say these words?"
"By the right of Sunagakure" Chorused around him.
Gaara whipped his head around, and saw what seemed to be a third of his entire shinobi force surrounding him. All of them where either falling into stance, forming hand seals for jutsu, or where in the process of summoning their weapons and puppets.
"You know that I can easily take out all of you with sand correct? Or have you failed to realize that we live in the desert? This entire country is a weapon to me."
The one who seemed to be the leader spoke up once more; as the figure was talking it began to remove its mask to reveal itself.
"That may be true demon, but there are some things that even a jinchuuriki like you cannot destroy."
Gaara's eyes widened in shock as he realized who the person was, his name was Yoshi Watanabe, and he was the second most powerful shinobi in all of the hidden sand besides himself. He was mostly known as the head of the puppet division of the sand, he was Kankouro's mentor and to an extent, Temari's as well.
"So Yoshi, what do you plan to do?" asked Gaara.
Yoshi chuckled at the straight-forward question, a typical Gaara action. "I? Nothing, but your siblings however..."
Unseen to Gaara, Yoshi wiggled his fingers, pulling a struggling Temari and Kankouro into view.
Gaara tensed as he noticed his sibling struggle. "What have you done to Temari and Kankouro?"
"Heh, Heh, Heh, you're not so tough now neh Godaime? Don't you want to fight you're siblings? Well that can be arranged after all; even the infamous 'Sand Siblings' cannot ignore a command from their new Rokudaime Kazekage"
Gaara paled as he saw what was happening; the so-called Rokudaime of the Sand had used his puppet strings on his siblings, and was planning to use them as puppets to attack him. They were the perfect weapon against Gaara, and he knew it.
Gaara scowled, in utter frustration as the Puppeteer-Kazekage combined his sister's tornado attacks and his brother's poison gas bombs from his own puppets into a one deadly poison whirlwind of death. Not stopping there, Kakouro used his own puppet to send out a wave of shuriken at him with the wind.
Gaara raised a thick barrier of sand to block the attack, and created a small platform to him to ride on, he may not be able to fight now, but he can fall back and strike at another time.
Gaara's thoughts were cut off as he felt wind on his back, and he cursed for his own stupidity. He was up in the air, and that was Temari's strongest forte, she would be able to slice him into pieces from where he was at.
Dispelling his sand so he could fall freely, Gaara dropped until he reached the floor, using his sand as a cushion to keep himself safe. At least he had an advantage now, the streets were filled with sand, and as he is who he is, no one could beat him here.
Gaara waited patiently for his quickly arriving siblings and enemy, and noticed a noise that was growing by the minute. They were steps…a lot of steps, but they were not steps of people; they were of something else...
(Puppets!) Gaara realized, he melted himself into the floor, but kept an eye out on one of the street corners to see what was happening.
A minute had not even passed after Gaara hid when an army of puppets charged through the street he was in. They were either carrying their puppeteers on their backs, or they were jumping from rooftop to rooftop with their owners' right behind them.
Gaara counted somewhere about fifty puppets, of all kinds. He saw siege puppets, beast puppets, assassin puppets, aerial puppets; even the occasional capture puppets were present. They had all come to hunt him, and one of the assassin puppets had spotted his eye.
"He's here! Prepare for battle and call for reinforcements!"
Gaara jumped out of the floor and looked upon his enemies, before any of them could ready an attack, Gaara prepared his latest attack.
"Desert Genocide" Muttered Gaara.
Instantly, hundred of desert coffins consumed the entirety of the wooden puppet attackers, with a clenching hand motion, all of the coffins imploded and destroyed whatever was inside of them.
The remaining puppeteers fell back and hid, powerless without their walking weapons.
Gaara looked towards the main gate, it was only a few blocks away, and he could make it if he ran.
Gaara felt the presence of wind behind his back again, and hurriedly summoned another wall of sand behind him.
Gaara cursed as his controlled siblings sent out a huge tornado of poison gas and shuriken at him. His Suna no Tate (shield of sand) could easily protect him, but since Shukaku no longer resided in him, the technique required chakra, something he is running out of. Gaara landed heavily on the ground and formed a perfect sphere of sand to protect him, the barrage of attacks his siblings were launching at him would eventually eat away hiss shield…but he needs to think up a strategy before doing anything else. He could not afford to do any jutsu otherwise it would take down his shield and leave him directly open for attack…escape was possible but he needed time to gather a large amount of chakra to run away at a great distance so he would have time to rest.
Gaara sighed, he made a life promise never to hurt his siblings ever again under any circumstances, in this situation he was nearly powerless, and would surely die if something, anything, didn't happen soon.
The sand was moving on its own once again and this time it was accompanied by a massive wave of mental anguish. Gaara gripped his head at the feeling, his head felt like it was spinning in a flame, there seemed to be no rest for such pain and it was beginning to tear him apart. The Seal on his head glowed red before transitioning to a golden brown color…the color of sand. Tiny grains of the substance were first trickling out like drops from a leaking faucet; until a mental dam burst within Gaara's mind and sand with the distinct metallic odor of blood surged outwards. During the entire spectacle Gaara heard an all to familiar roar of insane laughter that was all too familiar with him.
(I-It c-cant be! It just can't be!) Gaara almost began to weep in despair, he prayed to anything that was willing to listen to let him be wrong…he begged to be wrong. It would break him if he was right!
The horrid laughing began to die down until it was nothing more than a sick chuckle. DID YOU MISS ME GAKI?
(S-Sh-SHUKAKU! How! I thought Akatsuki got you!)
THAT'S A GREAT WAY TO GREET YOU'RE OLD FRIEND MEAT, NO WONDER YOU HAVE NO SOCIAL SKILLS.
(Do not play with me now demon! How the hell were you able to return! Answer me damn it!)
INSOLENT MORTAL! YOU DARE ORDER THE GREAT SHUKAKU LIKE A MERE SERVANT! AFTER I JUST SAVE YOU PATHETIC ASS FROM BEING KILLED FROM YOUR OWN BLOOD! PAY ME THE RESPECTI DESERVE NOW YOU CAD!
(I'll never pay, loan, or even throw away gratitude to you stupid sand box! Now tell me why you are here and not with the Akatsuki.)
Shukaku muttered angrily about ungrateful vessels and ripping out the fleshy balls in between a certain red-heads legs before reluctantly telling Gaara of what he knew.
TRUTHFULLY BRAT, I DO NOT KNOW, ONE MINUTE I WAS BEING TRANSFERRED INTO ANOTHER BODY, THE NEXT, I'M BACK HERE. IT'S EITHER A FRIGGIN MIRACLE I'M HERE OR ANOTHER CURSE.
(Trust me, it's a curse.) Relayed Gaara as the shield suffered another poison tornado. (Can you keep up the barrier? I am starting to tire and I'm sure you do not want to perish so quickly after we have rejoined.)
The demon said nothing but complied nonetheless, he did not like a brat who was too perceptive for his own good, he ate people like that.
(I must find a way to escape, but the only way through is to beat my siblings...uh, I wish I had killed all those ignorant villagers when I was still insane...No! I have changed; I have no more thoughts like that anymore. I must think of ways to calm myself...)
KILL THEM ALL AND FEEL THE BLOOD OF YOUR ENEMIES IN YOUR HANDS AND FEET. LAUGH IN TRIUMPH AT THEIR SUFFERING AS YOU SEND THEIR WORTHLESS SOULS TO THE SHINIGAMI (DEATH GOD) HIMSELF!
(Shut the hell up demon! I don't need you to corrupt what little private thoughts I have!) Typical, only when Gaara is in a life-threatening situation does Shukaku show his worthless hide to annoy him...Doesn't he know that it only puts his own life in danger too?
HAHAHA! YOUR INSULTS ARE GETTING BETTER GAKI (BRAT)! BESIDES YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY THAT SOMEONE IS WILLING TO LISTEN TO YOU RANT LIKE A CHILD! JUST KILL THEM ALL YOU DON'T NEED THEM!
Shukaku knew the risk of distracting the boy during a fight, but that didn't stop him from annoying Gaara to no end. After all, if he ever did get into too much trouble Gaara would have no choice but to let him out.
(I do not value anything that comes from you, you worthless pile of fur. If need be I will get my ally Uzumaki to silence you) Gaara never understood the point of these little verbal bouts, but was always wary of what the demon tanuki (badger) said.
KUKUKU...YOU REALLY ARE BECOMING A DEMON JUST LIKE MYSELF AND THE UZUMAKI-TEME.
The battle was getting too rough for his liking, and Gaara was not loosing resolve like he used to, better leave now and unbalance the gaki later. For now, he'll just piss him off.
(What are you talking about demon? Why do you bring up Uzumaki? Speak now hairball!)
NO, IF YOU WANT TO KNOW SO BADLY THEN FIND OUT YOURSELF
(Shukaku! Shukaku! Get back here and face me like the demon you are! Damn you demon!) Great, the only time he wants the stupid badger to talk, he leaves! The damn fur-ball leaves him in the middle of an important conversation. Oh well, he'll talk to him later. For now he must flee, and there is only one effective way to do that.
Using his regained mastery of sand Gaara expanded his Suna no Tate in order to push away his loved siblings. Surprised, but at the same time happy that Gaara was able to find a way to escape, Temari and Kankouro resisted any command for a defense as the sand made contact with them, sailing them into the nearest wall full-force and knocking them out completely.
Once Gaara made sure his brother and sister were officially out of the chase, Gaara used his variation of the shun shin no jutsu(body-flicker technique) to disappear in a flurry of sand. He was out of the village in moments and landed in some secluded location miles away from his home.
He arrived in the small village named Roken.
Minutes later Gaara had entered the village, Naruto had appeared in a bright yellow flash, he looked around to see where he was at and saw a village not too far away from him. He remembered this village when he was traveling with Ero-sennin; it was the half-way point between Sand and Leaf, and a vital trading spot. But the real reason he remembered this location was the exotic ramen flavors they had here. Naruto licked his lips at the thought of tasting lime and green chile ramen again...it had been to long.
Naruto entered and found the hotel he had stayed at before; he had left a good impression the last time he visited, so he was sure he would be getting cheap. He decided to spend the night there and wait to morning to see Gaara, he was probably busy anyway. Before Naruto entered the village he made sure he was under a henge no jutsu (transformation technique) to disguise himself. Better safe than sorry after all, he didn't want to leave any leads for any hunter ninja. Naruto shivered, those hunter-nin can be pretty scary at times.
It was only until after he got his room for the night did he feel a strange presence in the village. It was not those regular feelings that you get just by being followed; or the ones when you know something was going to happen. No, this was the feeling you got when someone or something powerful was searching, hunting, for their desired prize. With you hoping that the prize wasn't you. Naruto subtly looked at his surroundings, looking for anyone or anything that may stand out.
(Villagers there, some random stand here, a shadowy stalker with something really big on his back... ooh! Lime and Green Chile Ramen half off! Kami must love me!)
Forgetting about the stalker with a possible weapon of mass destruction on his back, Naruto rocketed inside the ramen restaurant intending to spend all the money he saved up for the past three years as a ninja right then there. The stranger was clearly impressed on how the boy was able to detect him this quickly, he had only found the boy himself, but that was only until the boy completely ignored him and brushed him off over some spiced boiled noodles.
With a tired sigh the stranger dropped from roof he was on and went to the restaurant Naruto entered. Imagine his surprise when the Naruto was able to easily pass through his defenses and press a kunai to his neck.
"Who are you and what do you want stranger?"
The strange man suddenly smirked "You're one to talk about strange Uzumaki, my friend"
Now Naruto's interest was peaked, he had a guess who this man was and his voiced confirmed it. " Ga-" he started to say, but he noticed that Gaara was under a henge. Gaara made a couple signals by nodding and shaking his head, Naruto decided to play along. "I mean Tanuki?"
Gaara sweat dropped at the choice of alias but still nodded just the same. "Hai (yes / affirmative)"
Naruto brought the kunai back into his pocket and led Gaara outside into a dark alley. (All perverted fan girls that think Naruto is going to rock Gaara's world should just exit the site now, for I will never on my tiny mortal life ever write the parasitic epidemic that is known as Yaoi…its just wrong, so very wrong…) "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at you're office doing paper work or something?"
"Not here, do you have a place to stay for the night?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Good, I'll tell you there."
"Very well"
And that's what Gaara did, he explained to Naruto that since he was captured and almost killed, the Sand had denounced him as a leader and had ran him out of the village using his own brother and sister. Naruto visibly shook in absolute rage at this, threatening to let his hatred control him. But when Gaara asked why Naruto was there, he stopped. His eyes lost focus and glazed over, his mouth snapped shut, and he stilled to the point of looking like the dead themselves.
"I was sure they would accept me after that mission Gaara, I was absolutely sure that they wouldn't look at me with hatred anymore. Damn! I was such and idiot! My secret was finally known to the world Gaara, and everyone hated me after seeing it. When I saw the children who looked up to me narrow their eyes in hatred at me, my hope broke. I was finally done Gaara, I just couldn't take anymore, I just left."
"Secret?" Asked Gaara.
Naruto stared at Gaara with a pair of almost defeated looking eyes. "That's right huh? I never did tell you. Gaara, you are not alone in your burden to cage a tailed beast. I am the container of Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox demon. That is why Akatsuki is after me too."
Gaara couldn't believe his ears, Naruto gave up? Impossible! No one could break his resolve! No one! What of his friends? Did they abandon him too? But the demon...So this was what Shukaku meant, he had someone who understood his pain this entire time and he never knew it. But the look in his friend's eyes, it wasn't just the work of the single ANBU he had told him about...
EXACTLY GAKI, NO ONE. AN ENTIRE VILLAGE IS NOT JUST ONE PERSON, IT'S AN ENTIRE GROUP OF SHIT-PUMPED FINK-RATS! YOU SHOULD KNOW WHY HE HURTS SO MUCH HEH, HEH, HEH; BUT STILL…IT TAKES A LOT TO BEAT ANYTHING RELATED TO THE KYUUBI, IT SEEMS EVEN THE GREATEST OF THE BIJU (TAILED BEASTS) CAN FALL, YOU SHOULD DO WELL TO REMEMBER THAT.
(But, this is Uzumaki! He had survived twelve years suffering under that pathetic shit-hole he called a home. And now he decides to give up? That just doesn't add up! But...I guess he has a valid point, I cannot relate since all feared me even since I was an infant. Besides, Naruto had worked hard to gain his attention, but if what he told me truly happened, then I guess I could say no more.)
EVEN THE GREATESTOF WARRIORS HAVE A KINK IN THEIR ARMOR GAKI, INCLUDING DEMONS. MAYBE YOU CAN BEAT THE FUNK OUT OF HIM UNTIL HE RETURNS TO HIS ORIGINAL IDIOCY?
(You idiot, he won't talk to us if we threaten him, if anything he will just bury us in our own sand.)
The demon tanuki just grumbled and faded away to his corner of Gaara's mind. He would come back when he wants to be annoying, but then again…he always is. For now Gaara will focus on Naruto. "What about you're dream to be Hokage, Uzumaki?"
Naruto scoffed and leered at Gaara with a uncomfortable aura around him. "That dream has died Gaara; it has befallen a terrible and bloody death. I have a new dream now, one that might interest you greatly, especially now that you have no title to flaunt around me anymore."
Gaara tried to raise an eyebrow, something that Naruto found just plain creepy, and somewhat amusing, as Gaara did not have any eyebrows. "What is it?"
Forgetting about the eyebrow thing, Naruto gave Gaara a serious look. "The other biju…or more specifically, their vessels."
Gaara nearly jumped in surprise, but was able to hold himself at the last moment. "What are you talking about Naruto?" Was it possible that there were more like them? The thought almost made Gaara think of acting excited.
"Think about Gaara, there are nine villages in total, not including the sound. All of them are at least two decades old. That means one village was at least five years old when Kyuubi attacked and was at least a year old when Shukaku appeared and was sealed in that teapot. There are also nine biju, your badger, a falcon, a tiger, a wolf, a shark, an ox, a dragon, an elephant, and my fox. Nine and nine, that means there is at least one biju per village. If we get to them before Akatsuki does, we may just prevent a major global disaster to the near future."
Gaara absorbed this information slowly, and analyzed it to his maximum potential. It made sense, well, except Naruto's math, Konoha was not the oldest ninja village and the demons were around well before any kind of village was ever created. The demons could be in any kind of village in any part of the other countries, but if they reach the biju before Akatsuki does, they would throw a very big wrench into their plans, whatever they may be. They can take him and Naruto alone, but can they take on every single biju combined? He didn't think so.
But one thing still bothered him.
"Why?"
The question surprised Naruto for a moment, but he quickly recovered. His answer came with that fox-like grin on his face.
"Come on Gaara you should see it by now!" Naruto suddenly became very sedate and looked out to the desert moon high among the stars. "To prove we are something Gaara, and not nothing. To prove to the entire world we are just not demons but people as well. To prove we are strong, in everyway possible." Naruto stood silent for a moment, and with renewed vigor said something that almost made Gaara decide to go with him. "To gain our own precious people that only we could understand"
Both jinchuuriki, were silent for a long time after that, Gaara silently weighing the pros and cons of such a journey; and Naruto awaiting his answer. After a few more minutes, Gaara gave a grin when he had come to a decision.
"What shall we call ourselves Naruto?"
Naruto smiled for what seemed the first time in a long time. Then again when has Naruto truly smiled when not around Iruka-sensei, Ero-sennin or Tsunade Obaa-chan (granny)?
(Never) Naruto thought, truly never had he smiled like he was now. But now was not the time to be sad, he had to think of a name right now.
"Hmm..." Naruto was in his concentrating/constipated face that made Gaara snicker to himself. Suddenly, without warning Naruto jumped and yelled like a kid on sugar high. "I know how about the 'Super-Cool-Demon-Retrieving-Demon-Vessel-Squad' or SCDRDVS for short. What do you think of that Gaara?"
"It sucks ass" Gaara calmly stated. The blunt and monotonous tone of Gaara's voice caused Naruto to drop his head in humiliation before sticking his nose in the air in annoyance. He glared at Gaara with a half-hearted attempt at a death-stare and shouted:
"Oh yeah? Well let's see you make up a better name then!"
"Very well," Gaara closed his eyes to ponder for a much better name. Suddenly it came to him. "Akatsuki means 'Dawn' correct?"
"Uh huh, go on..." Naruto looked at Gaara from the corner of his eye still a bit embarrassed at the way the former Kazekage had brushed off his suggestion so easily. It was a good name damn it!
"Well, 'Dawn' is obviously a symbolization that the group wants to start something that will probably destroy the world as we know it." Naruto nodded it made sense, in a sadistic morale-killing sort of way.
"So why don't we call ourselves Yoinokuchi? 'Nightfall', It means the complete opposite as a representation of our desires to go against their goals?"
Naruto cracked out a huge fox smile that could of very well break his face, the name was perfect, and he humbly admitted it made his proposition seem absolutely ridiculous...even if he still thought it was cool… "Gaara, I couldn't make a better name if I tried."
Gaara himself simply nodded in thanks and stared out the window in serenity, a welcome change of pace since the bout earlier that night. From that day on, Gaara will always remember that night when it seemed that the stars shone even brighter under the reign of the moon.
Naruto then looked out to the great lunar sphere; it was full and bright tonight, even though it was completely gone a few nights before. The emblematic relationship that that simple fact had with his own soul was a bit soothing. Knowing that no matter how much it breaks away or even if it disappears completely, his spirit will begin anew, just like the moon.
Unknown to either vessel a solitary being was watching them from outside their window. It was impossible to determine the person's gender. Whoever it was began smiling to itself and its mind whirling with thoughts and ideas. There was a literal storm of planning and deduction sprouting from his mind, foreseeing millions of possible outcomes simply from the previous events that he had rigged to set into motion. It was difficult manipulating the red-heads chemical imbalances in his head from a distance, even more so to do it at the right time. Luckily, it was nowhere near as hard to make sure he had 'coincidentally' run into the blonde loudmouth so soon. The unknown element wished it could do more at the moment, but the plan had to be followed to the letter…or else the entire thing would come down crushing all those related to it.
It would not let all those innocents die a vain death.
(Phase one: complete. You've finally chosen the right path my friends, I'll make sure you stay on that path.)
With that the mysterious being disappeared.
A bell rang in the distance signaling that it was now six-o'clock in the day. The children waved good bye to their story-teller as they walked home with their families and friends, preparing to eat their evening dinners and ramble on of their day's happenings. The traveling figure gave a small chuckle as he witnessed Rai wave goodbye over-enthusiastically and started to babble off about the power of youth. When Rai turned around, the traveler prepared a silencing jutsu just in case, but visibly relaxed when Rai sedately said they were going to bed.
Tomorrow would come soon, and another chapter would be told.