Chapter 3:
Sand, More Sand, and a Red Haired Boy.
It was great day to be Naruto Uzumaki. First he got to miss school for a few days, and he was going to spend his birthday with his favorite person far away from Konoha. Yes, life couldn't get better.
While Naruto was having a jolly old time, running beside a rather agitated silver haired shinobi. Kakashi however couldn't say the same. At the very least Naurto had come to know when to pester Kakashi and when not to.
The young hyperactive blonde boy was itching to ask his older brother about their destination, but held his tongue. His brother wasn't the most amiable person this morning.
Kakashi was still in a sour mood from his early morning chat yesterday with the Hokage where he got his ear chewed off with warnings and threats. It was obvious the Hokage didn't want Naruto leaving the village walls, but Kakashi was not about to leave him alone when his life was still being threatened. Eventually the Sandaime gave his permission to let Naruto accompany him on his mission to Suna, but under certain conditions.
Now they were currently a mere few hours away after already spending an entire day on the road, and Kakashi couldn't help feel more tense as they neared. There wasn't a very good relation between the two shinobi villages at the moment, and it was why it was important to get the peace treaty signed, but Kakashi had a feeling the Kazekage wasn't going to agree.
That man had some serious power issues. Kakashi had heard some very awful rumors about him and he didn't want the man to get any where near Naruto if any of them turned out to be true.
The worst rumor stated that he had actually fused a tailed-beast in his unborn son killing his wife in the birthing process. He had done it in hopes of gaining a powerful, indestructible weapon for him to use and rise his power over the other shinobi nations. Just imagining what that kind of man would do if he discovered that Konoha's own jinchuuriki was in his village left Kakashi with a bitter taste in his mouth.
Shaking his head from his troubled thoughts, Kakashi halted Naruto and took something out of his back pouch.
" Here Naruto put this on. We're nearing the borders of the village of Suna and one of the conditions of the Hokage letting you come was that your identity was to remain hidden."
" Yeah, yeah. I understand big brother, but now I'm going to look like a copy cat." Naruto pouted as he slipped on an identical black mask that the amused silver-haired man wore constantly.
" Funny you should say that..." Kakashi mused aloud, thinking about the nickname he had earned himself over the last couple of years, before he also handed over a dark navy blue cloak with a white swirl on the back.
" Whats with the cloak? I have to wear this too?"
" Yes, keep your hood on as long as you're in public alright."
Saluting an affirmative, Naruto lifted the dark hood over his head obscuring his most defining characteristics from curious eyes.
Without another word, the two males carried on their path nearing the border into the desert lands of Suna.
Gaping like a fish out of water, Naruto was surprised to see a sea of golden sand rolling like waves as the breeze blew over the hot earth. It seemed that the temperature kept rising as he stood there making him wish that he wasn't forced to wear such a dark cloak.
" Alright Naruto I know it must be getting pretty warm for you, so I'm going to teach how to channel chakra through your body to keep your temperature cool."
Nodding gratefully, Naruto turned to watch how Kakashi's white chakra seemed to form a protective layer over him.
" Just let your chakra flow through your body, but keep it close to you or else it won't work."
Following the instructions to the letter, after a couple of tries Naruto was soon layered in a protective coat of his blue chakra that had greatly lowered his body's temperature to something much more comfortable. Those chakra control exercises that Kakashi made him go through on the daily were finally paying off. Even though they were really dumb...
" Good job, now I want you to add a bit more chakra to your feet to keep you from sinking into the sand." Kakashi continued as he demonstrated.
It was simpler to add chakra to his feet and soon Naruto was floating a few inches above the golden sea.
Once satisfied that they were ready to endure the harsh conditions of Suna, Kakashi led the way into the never ending expanse of the desert. If you didn't know how to sense chakra signatures than a simple journey into this would have become dangerous.
Before long, the tall desert cliffs of Sunakagure came into view. Naruto was eager to be able to explore such a foreign place. However, the real hard part of this mission was getting past the village gate without arousing any suspicion.
Two shinobi of Suna stood guarding the entrance and Kakashi hoped that they wouldn't question him about Naruto. It was common for genin to accompany Jonin on missions, but Naruto was still very young.
" Stop. You're shinobi from Konoha?" One of the guards questions as he forced Kakashi and Naruto to halt in-front of the gate.
" Yes, I bring a personal message for the Kazekage." Kakashi answered with a laid back tone, but never relaxing his guard.
" We were informed that only one shinobi would come, but there's two of you?" The other shinobi spoke as he narrowed his dark colored eye's at the pair.
" Ah-yes this my genin student. He wished to accompany me at the last minute. I hope there isn't a problem."
Glancing between each other the guards ultimately didn't see the young boy as a threat and let them through, but not before warning them that they would be keeping an eye on them.
Once they were several yards away, Kakashi let out a heavy sigh of relief.
" Geez, brother loosen up. This place is super cool! Can I go look around?" Naruto excitedly questioned as he stared with large eyes all around the strange clay formed buildings.
Contemplating the request, the Hatake couldn't think of any good excuse to deny him. Besides he needed to speak with the Kazekage personally. Also there was the fact he didn't want the Kazekage knowing of Naruto existence. "And he is quite loud..."
" Alright, but don't get yourself into any trouble. Meet me at sundown in this spot. I'm going to get us a hotel room and then I have to meet with the Kazekage." Kakashi responded as he handed Naruto some money incase the blonde needed it.
" Don't worry big brother, I'll behave. Believe it!" Naruto retorted with a thumbs up.
Ruffling his hair affectionately, Kakashi said a final farewell before disappearing in a puff of smoke and gust of leaves.
With great wonder shining brightly in his intense blue eyes, Naruto walked around the foreign city of Sunakagure. It's lack of water or numerous plant life was so surprising to the young blond as he had grown in an area where those things were bountiful.
" I wonder how people can live in a place like this. I couldn't do it. I like swimming and jumping around the trees too much to ever want to give it up." Naruto mused as he strolled leisurely through the dusty streets.
The sun was still pretty high in the desert sky, when he came upon a rather interesting sight. He had come to stop in what appeared to be a playground or play area. There were various children playing around and there was one particular group of boys playing a game of futbol. Naruto had never actually played that game before, but he had seen kids back in Konoha when he was younger that did. They never asked him to join in though...
Brushing those sad memories far from his mind, Naruto returned to observing the kids when he noticed a small red haired boy about a year or two younger than him sitting by himself a couple of yards away. The boy was watching the others play with the ball much like he was, but what really surprised Naruto was the sad look in the young red heads teal eye's.
There was something painstakingly familiar of the look in the eye's of the boy that reminded Naruto of something that he couldn't quite place. He was about to approach the boy, figuring he was just lonely, when he heard sounds of disappointment coming from the group of boys that he had been watching earlier.
The ball they had been playing with had ended up being kicked on top of one of the surrounding rock pillars. Naruto made to jump up in retrieve it, when a large column of sand rose from the earth and lifted the ball. The sand carried the ball back into the hands of the red headed boy.
" That's a really incredible Jutsu!" Naruto thought with awe frozen in his stop.
Said boy reached up and grabbed it, holding it tentatively between his small hands. Naruto watched as the small red head walked over to the boys that had gone deathly still and silent. The looks of fear on their faces astonished the young blonde. It would seem that it also had that impression on the red head as he had stopped his approach.
There was something that just tore at his heart as Naruto watched the scene unravel before him. " It can't be... They treat him like they do me back in Konoha..."
The next words spoken drowned Naruto in his memories.
" Wh-what do you want? Get lost!" A brown haired boy whimpered as he started to back away with the others.
" I just want to give this back to you." The red headed boy answered softly as he took a step forward, holding the boy out to the boys.
" No! Stay away! Monster!" Various boys screeched as they ran away back into the heart of the village.
In what only Naruto could explain as a ditch effort, the red head pleaded for the kids to return and it would seem that he tried to stop them with his sand, but that only managed to frighten them more.
Before things got more out of hand, Naruto approached the now silent and trembling red haired boy. The boys effort to get the other kids to stop was in vain and now only the two of them remained in the playground.
" That's a really cool jutsu you got there pal." Naruto spoke to him to get his attention.
Turning around, the red head was astonished to see a boy around his age standing casually behind him with his hands entwined behind his head.
Uneasy at the newcomer, the Suna boy examined the kid who talked to him. He was about two inches or so taller than him and was wearing a black mask that obscured his facial features except his bright blue eyes. The hood that he was wearing hid the other boys hair from his eyes as well. This boy wasn't from Suna.
" Y-you think it's cool? It doesn't scare you?" The red haired boy said hesitantly as he turned fully around and stood eye to eye with the strange new boy. If he wasn't from Suna maybe he'd be different.
" Heck yeah! That was awesome! Why would I be scared of a jutsu? You weren't hurting anyone. Believe it!" Naruto responded with a laugh and a thumbs up. This kid from Suna was really something.
Never before had Naruto seen a anyone look at him with such awe and amazement like the red haired boy did in that moment. It made him feel pretty important. " I wonder what I said?"
" You aren't afraid of me?" The other boy finally whispered as he clutched his arm with his right hand.
" Nope. Hey wanna see something super awesome?"
When he saw the red head nod, Naruto formed a familiar pair of hand signals and in a puff of white smoke three Naruto's stood before a flabbergasted red haired boy.
" There's three of you?"
" Yeah it's called the Kage Bushin no Jutsu. My older brother taught it to me. Well anyway's my name is Naruto what's yours?" The blond inquired as he purposely left out his last name like Kakashi had asked him to earlier on in their journey to Suna.
" Gaara. You're not from around here are you?"
" No I'm not. I'm from Konoha. I came with a Jonin sensei, who's my brother, on a mission here."
" You're a ninja? But you look like you're my age." Gaara asked baffled at how such a small boy could be a ninja already.
Scratching the back of his head, Naruto wondered how he was going to get out of this one. Kakashi had specifically told him not to reveal anything about himself except his first name and that he was from Konoha with a Jonin sensei accompanying him.
" Well I'm still in the academy, but my brother let me come with him. Are you studying to become a ninja too?" Naruto quickly interjected as he threw a question at the boy.
Nodding his head, Gaara was sad to know that the one person who ever treated him kindly was from a village far away and would likely end up being his enemy one day. Though he loathe the idea of having to be a constant weapon under his father's use.
" Don't look so down Gaara. Being a ninja is great. You get to help people and protect your village." Naruto said with great enthusiasm.
At the mention of village, red head could feel a sprout of anger surge through his small body.
" Why would I want to protect this village? All they ever do is be mean and say such awful things to me. You don't know what's like to be hated and not know why. I could never come to like this village." Gaara fumed with spite in his words. His sudden declaration shocked even the raccoon eyed boy as he turned desperately toward the taller boy hoping his little rant hadn't spooked him.
Shocked and stupefied at the red head's words, Naruto finally realized why the scene from earlier seemed so familiar to him that it hurt. Gaara had been indeed treated just like he was back in Konoha.
The glares... The insults... All of it was the same. The worst part was that he did in fact know what it felt like to be hated and not know the reason behind it.
A new sense of comradeship bloomed in the blond's chest as he took a step forward and wrapped the other boy in a tight hug rendering said boy in a frozen state. How he had wished someone had done this for him a long time ago.
" He managed to grab me. Why didn't the sand stop him?"
Stunned, Gaara was too absorbed in trying to figure out how the blond managed to get around his impenetrable defense that he stood there with his arms hanging limply by his sides. No one had ever come close to him without causing his sand to stir. Yet, this boy, Naruto, could and gave him his first hug. Ever...
Thinking that the red head didn't appreciate being hugged, Naruto was about to release him when he felt a pair of hands wrap shyly around him. It seemed that Gaara was never hugged before.
" We have so much in common Gaara and you don't even know it..."
A/N: Hope the chapter was up to standard for you guys!
As for some of the questions asked:
Naruto hasn't really thought to ask Kakashi what rank he is so to him he's just a really cool ninja. But I plan to make that discovery quite comical! And if there are certain scenes you'd like me to write just let me know. I aim to please!
I haven't really thought of any special powers or bloodlines for Naruto so if any of you guys have any suggestions please tell me!
One last thing would you prefer Kakashi have a pairing or no pairing? If yes, would you rather it be an OC or a character already in the series?
I'd like to thank all those who have taken the time to write me a review! You people make my day!
Well until next time dear readers!
P.S.
Don't forget to review! I really appreciate the feedback!
