-Chapter 4 Sabaku No Gaara-

By all accounts, the Godaime Kazekage was doing very well for himself, and if anyone was to ask him why, he would tell you that it was all because of the fact that he was able to get a good night's sleep.

The last time that Uzumaki Naruto had seen the red haired sand user was 5 years ago, when he was sent to rescue him from Deidara and Sasori of Akatsuki. Back then, Naruto wasn't sure just how badly Gaara's combat techniques were affected by the fact that Shukaku had been taken away from him. True, he did have some of his sand manipulation powers with him when they last parted ways, as he was able to use his sand to make Naruto shake hands with him, but if he was still able to fight on the scale that he used to was a different story entirely.

Now, here they were, in the Kazekage's office, catching up on the years that they had spent in their respective villages. Naruto allowed Gaara to go first, as there weren't many of the blonde's exploits that hadn't already reached the Kazekage.

The first thing that Gaara did when Naruto left was sleep. And boy did he sleep. According to his siblings he slept a total of 2 weeks straight. Not that anyone blamed him; after all if they had to go over 15 years without sleep, then they would feel like they deserved to have as much of it as they wanted. After his brief coma, he began to assess just how much his powers suffered from the removal of his prisoner. And while he expected his abilities to be nowhere near where they used to be, realizing just how far apart they were caused just a little worry in him.

The first, and decidedly most painful, of his findings was the fact that his shield of sand was no more. The sand didn't automatically defend him when an attack came, no matter how slow it came. Next was the fact that without Shukaku's chakra reserves, his armor of sand, which took a lot of chakra to maintain, was utterly impossible to maintain in a combat situation. Almost all of his offensive moves suffered greatly, though his most basic move, Sabaku Kyuu, was still considered usable by his standards. His standards being that he could still kill his opponent with it.

His solution was a simple one, and Naruto wondered if his comrade had spent some time around another Konoha shinobi. His solution; hard work. He dedicated all of his time into increasing the effectiveness of his offensive moves, increasing his chakra capacity greatly, though it would never reach the heights that it used to, and increasing his evasiveness. His shield of sand and his armor of sand would not be coming back any time soon, so Gaara had to change his fighting style dramatically. Instead of simply standing in one place the whole battle and sending his sand out to attack and kill his enemy, he learned a few basic taijutsu forms from a few of the taijutsu masters of his village. He only used his sand occasionally, just as a way to either gain the upper hand on his opponent, or to finish him.

Not to say that his sand powers were completely shot down. On the contrary, his offensive techniques had reached the level that they had been before the Akatsuki attack. Naruto had witnessed that first hand when he dispatched the Missing Sand Nin and Tokugara Ganju. Considering that he had only seen the Sabaku Kyuu used on the arm and leg of Lee during the Chuunin exams and had not seen Gaara ever perform his trademark attack on a person's full body before, the sight of both Ganju and Kotaro's bodies getting crushed by the pressure that Gaara put on the sand was a sight that wasn't going to leave Naruto's head for years.

Naruto was not the most observant ninja in the world. After all, it took him all of his entire ninja life to notice the blindingly obvious affection that a certain Hyuuga harbored for him. However, after spending his six month Anbu run as her partner, Naruto was completely aware of how silent Yamanaka Ino was being right now. He wanted to believe that it was simply the fact that they were sitting in the office of the Kazekage, even if he reassured her over and over that they were close friends, but immediately discounted that theory since she was just as loud and belligerent as he was when she was in the presence of the Hokage. It was here that he wished that he could use one of her mind reading jutsu's so he could determine just what was going through her mind.

As Gaara motioned for Naruto to begin his side of the catching up, Ino, who had basically been standing to the side watching the too get caught up with each other, was sending her expert observational skills in overdrive. And the first thing that she noticed was how open the Kazekage was being. The last time she had seen the red haired Kazekage was 8 years ago, when the Konoha 11, minus Tenten, had been dispatched to help the Sand ninjas retrieve Gaara's student, and even then she noticed just how silent he was. He rarely spoke to anyone other than his brother, sister, or Naruto. And even when he did speak, it was straight to the point. He never said any more or less than what was absolutely necessary. This, however, was a welcome relief from when she had first met him during the Chuunin exams. It was almost as if he was out to kill anyone and everyone who even stopped to say hello to him.

But now, he almost seemed friendly. Granted he still had the same dark marks around his eyes, and still held his near emotionless gaze on whoever spoke to him. But still, it was almost a pleasant atmosphere inside of his office. It was like she was looking at a completely different person from the one that she knew. But then again, she was already used to that, having been around Naruto for so long. This, once again, brought her back to when Naruto said that he and Gaara had more in common than she knew. She was now truly forcing herself no to force her way into his mind and find out for herself just why the blonde haired prankster always seemed to shut everyone out when certain topics about him came up. But she restrained herself, believing that Naruto would indeed tell her whatever secret provoked such dark moods within him when he was ready.

After Naruto was finished telling his five year story to Gaara he then asked just how Gaara found his way to the mansion.

"I had decided to look into any and all past records of unresolved incidents within my village. One of them was an A class missing nin named Kotaro, one of our most prominent puppet users. No one knows just why he decided to go rogue all of the sudden, but he became a top priority when he stole an ancient puppeteering scrolls. We had a second copy of the scroll hidden away, but if that scroll was put into enemy hands, then one of our village's greatest weapons was gone. Unfortunately, with the death of my father, most of the cases, along with his, had to be put on hold in favor of rebuilding the village after the failed attack on your village.

"Once I took over as Kazekage, after the whole Akatsuki incident, I began a thorough investigation of each and every case that could not be resolved before my father's death. The Kotaro case intrigued me immensely, and I placed all of our resources into finding him. Unfortunately, stealth appeared to be one of his strong points, as we were unable to locate him within the five countries. We started coordinating with your Hokage, figuring that two villages looking for a missing nin had a better chance of finding him than just one. We finally got a lead when she gave us the report on Tokugara Ganju. I decided to handle this one personally."

Naruto and Ino both nodded their heads. "Good thing you showed up when you did. If he was as good as you said he was, then I doubt neither me nor Ino could have moved fast enough to escape getting poisoned."

The next thing that Gaara did actually caused a sharp shiver to run down Ino's spine. He smiled. It wasn't the big, toothy, ear to ear smile that Naruto was famous for, and it wasn't the evil, sadistic smile that she saw on Gaara during the preliminary fights. No, it was just a slightly amused, microscopic raise of the corner of his mouth. "Truth be told, I could have intervened before the house exploded, but when I found out that you two were inside, I wanted to see if you could have finished it on your own. After what I saw, however, I am beginning to think that you two need more help than you think."

Ino's jaw was almost touching the floor. The Godaime Kazekage had just told a joke. Her brain had just become completely fried, and she was incapable of coherent thought, much less words. Thankfully, and surprisingly to Ino, Naruto wasn't having as many problems as she was. "Aw, come on Gaara. You have to give us some credit. They had to blow up a mansion just to keep us down long enough to trap us."

Gaara didn't let the grin leave his face. "Maybe I should tell your Hokage that you really can't handle the missions that are given to you by yourselves. I'm sure that she will be more than happy to lighten your load."

Naruto started laughing out loud, clearly not worried about his friends threats. "That's a good one Gaara. You are a funny guy." However, when he finally did look up at the Kazekage, the look on his face pretty much said, "I dare you to think that I won't." Now Naruto got worried. "Hey, Gaara, you aren't serious about that are you?"

"I could have a messenger hawk sent out within ten minutes."

Now Ino was getting worried. "Please, Kazekage-sama. It is boring enough when we have to do simple missions. The really hard stuff is our only real source of excitement. Please don't tell her."

Now, the other corner of his mouth had risen up. "Dear Hokage, The Anbu team of Yamanaka Ino and Uzumaki Naruto, after a firsthand investigation of their skills, do not seem fit to be able to handle some of the more demanding assassination missions that you request of them."

Now Naruto was biting his fingernails, sweat dripping from every pore in his body. "Come on Gaara, quit playing around. You know we can handle them."

Gaara pretended to not hear them. "Therefore, it is my suggestion that you lower their mission rank to-" Before He could finish the sentence, he froze. He was surprised to find that he couldn't move his arms, legs, head, even his eyes. 'I've felt this before, when that Nara kid caught me with his shadow jutsu. But he isn't here now, so what…." His body then turned towards the female blonde, and he saw that she was using some sort of strange seal.

Naruto looked over at Ino in something resembling surprise, shock, and wonder. "Ino, what the hell did you do?"

Ino kept her eyes locked on Gaara. "Mind Imitation Jutsu. I finally perfected it." She walked up to Gaara, which only took half the time it would take as he walked to her as well. "Now you listen up. I don't care if you are the Kazekage, Hokage, Kamikage, or any other kage that might exist. You will not jeopardize my perfect Anbu mission record just because we were caught a little off guard. I swear to the gods, I will make sure that you spend each and every day of your life regretting the day you crossed Yamanaka Ino! So, what do ya say to that?"

Gaara spoke in a voice that was far to calm for his current situation. "Uzumaki Naruto, is she always this scary when she gets angry?"

Naruto stared at the Kazekage in awe. He had a lot of balls calling Ino scary right in her face. "Oi, Gaara, you really aren't in any position to be saying things like that."

Gaara turned his attention back to the blonde haired mind user, and smiled his small, confident smile again. "I thought you Konoha ninjas had a sense of humor."

Ino was so shocked by his words that she unknowingly released her jutsu's hold on his mind."You…. you can't possibly mean…"

Gaara simply nodded his head and said, "I was kidding."

Naruto dropped face first, while Ino remained froze at his words.

Gaara shook his head. "These last few years have done a lot of good for me. I have found my humanity; something that I believed never existed before. And now that I have a firm hold on it, I wish to enjoy it as much as I can."

Naruto stood back up and nodded his head, completely understanding what he was saying. "I see that. And I suppose that we should be congratulating you for that, then. By the way, how are things going with the villagers?"

Gaara retook his seat behind his desk. "The council still has some slight misgivings about me, but at the very least, they don't see me as a potential threat to the village anymore. Of course, the younger generations have accepted me to a much greater extent than I could have ever imagined. The rest of the village is still somewhat split down the middle as far as I'm concerned, but at the very least, no one outright hates me anymore."

Naruto couldn't help the smile that came across his face. "Good for you Gaara."

"I have already sent the mission report to your Hokage, so if you don't mind, I would like for you to stay the night here. You can use the guest rooms in my mansion."

Ino, finally recollecting herself and being the more refined of the two, bowed to the Kazekage. "Thank you, Kazekage-sama."

"Now, if that is all, I would like to speak with Uzumaki Naruto alone."

Ino nodded and turned to walk out of the door to his office.

Once Gaara was sure that they were alone, Gaara turned to his friend. "What happen to the other girl? The pink haired one?"

It took Gaara a while before he could register what he was asking. "Oh, Sakura?" Gaara already knew that something had happened. He always added the 'chan' to the end of her name. "Well, you remember when I told you about how we finally got Sasuke to come back to us? Well, six months after he returned, he and Sakura got engaged."

If Gaara had eyebrows, one of them would have been raised slightly above the other. "Engaged? To him? How did that happen?"

"Don't ask me. I've been trying to figure that one out ever since she told me. But that didn't truly do it for me. No, my affection for her officially ended during a festival at my village. I believe her exact words were, 'All he had for me was a little kiddy crush. That is all it ever was and that is all it ever will be.' Wow, it must have been one hell of a kiddy crush for me to constantly put my life at risk for her."

Gaara simply nodded at that. "She is obviously far too shallow to notice that what you had for her was more than she deserved. It is great that you have moved on."

"Uh, thanks Gaara, but why did you ask in the first place?"

"I have seen how you act around the mind jumper. Though it may have been brief, I have noticed something between the two of you. So I figured that something must have happened between you and your former teammate."

He looked down at his feet. "Well, as far as me and Ino are concerned, there isn't really much there. We hang out, talk, eat together, go on missions together, and even play a few pranks on people." He said that last part with just a hint of pride. "She kinda reminds me of me whenever I see her start yelling at someone, or when she is ordering ramen. I guess I should have noticed this a long time ago, but I was so wrapped around Sakura that I shut every other girl out, even Hyuuga Hinata, the only person in my class who actually liked me."

Gaara stared at Naruto, somewhat pleased that he was talking about this with him. "I see. Temari once told me that we only realize our biggest mistakes in life in retrospect, when it is already too late to change or fix them. The only thing that we can do is take what we have learned and apply them to our present lives. You have done that by realizing that, although you spoiled you chance with someone who truly admired you when you were younger, there was still someone there who you had a decent chance with. While she is extremely frightening, The Yamanaka appears to accept you completely." He stopped when he noticed the slight stiffening in Naruto's arms. "Unless there is still something about you that she doesn't know. I am assuming that it has something to do with your prisoner."

Naruto looked back up at Gaara. "I spoke to her once about her family. She had a few aunts and uncles that participated in the defense against the Kyuubi. They had all died slow, violent deaths at his claws. I don't know what would happen if I told her that the same demon that ended the lives of most of her family was trapped inside of me. Too many people that I don't even know, that don't know me, already hate me. I don't want the one person that I care for to hate me as well."

"You will need to tell her some time." Gaara stood up and turned to face his village. "And truth be told, I would think that you have a much better chance of her not hating you that you think. Like you said, the people who hate you are the ones that don't know you, the real you. She has had her whole ninja life to get to know Uzumaki Naruto the person, not Uzumaki Naruto the demon container. And once you tell her, you will find it easier to tell everyone else." He turned back to Naruto. "But the more you wait, the harder it will be." He held up a hand and created a ball of sand. "The more you allow the hate to stop you from speaking, the heavier the burden will become," He gathered more sand into the ball, making it bigger and bigger. "You have to tell someone, allow all of the hate to be let go, and let the burden," He released the sands, letting them fall to the ground. "fall."

Naruto let his words jumble themselves around in his head. Gaara did indeed have a point. As the years went by, and he became closer and closer to his friends, the fear of their reactions towards finding out his secret became more and more of a burden on him. "Maybe you are right Gaara. Maybe I have been holding this one in for too long. But I can't do it just yet. I need to know that she won't go berserk when she hears me out. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in a week from now, but I will tell her eventually."

Gaara nodded his head and sat back down. "Good. Now if you have nothing else for me, then you can go now."

Naruto bowed to his friend before turning and leaving the office.

-Guest Rooms, Later That Night-

Yamanaka Ino stepped out of the bathroom wearing a full body bath robe, glad that the Kazekage kept his guest rooms as well furnished and stocked as he would his own room. She took a seat on one of the two single beds that occupied the room, removed the robe and went to her backpack for her clothes. She had just gotten her hands on her bra when she heard a knock on the door. "Hey Ino, it's me."

She smiled at the door. "You can come in, Naruto."

She heard the doorknob rustle a little, and then stop. "Ino, are you decent?"

"Of course I am. I wouldn't let you come in if I weren't." She still had her bra in her hand.

Naruto opened the door and turned to Ino. "Sorry I to-" He immediately turned away, squeezing his eyes shut, and placing both hand over them. "What the hell, Ino?"

Ino let the laughter come like it was natural. She had heard about Naruto's 2 and a half year venture with the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya, and was well aware of his overbearing perverseness, as she had been in the bath house when she was caught peeping in a few months back. She had always wondered if Naruto had let some of his teachers perverted nature rub off on him, so she attempted to exploit that theory every chance she got. And although he had proven himself to be the gentleman that he claimed to be, she always got a kick out of seeing his reactions to her provocations. "We agreed to no secrets between us, so why shouldn't we be able to see each other naked?" She finished snapping on her bra and fished out her panties

"That's not the same thing, Ino, and you know it." He moved his way across the room towards his own bed, placed his bag down and fished out his own pajamas. "Are you at least half way decent now?"

"Yes, I am." She pulled her panties the rest of the way up her legs.

He turned to see her and sighed. "You know, There are some who would think that your openness with your body is somewhat degrading to your gender."

"Maybe, but you aren't one of them, and since I'm only this open with my body towards you, then it doesn't really matter what they think, now does it?"

He kept his mouth shut at that. Mainly because there was nothing he could say to that. True, he didn't find her exhibitionist activities that degrading; just slightly annoying. He just went to the shower, pajamas in hand, and closed the door. But not before Ino was able to give him a mental tag.

It was another little technique that Ino had developed during the time she spent creating the Mind Imitation Jutsu. This one simply put a small, small fraction of her mind into whomever she 'tagged' allowing her to communicate with them psychically. Though she didn't use it unless she had to, this time was special, as there was something that had been buzzing inside of her mind for a while now. "Hey Naruto, you mind if I ask you something?"

Naruto, who had just entered the shower, already knew about this method of communication, as she had tested it out on him first, as she did with most of her jutsus. He also recognized that her tease fest was now over, and she was actually being serious again. "What's up?"

Ino had just slipped into her own pajamas, a pair of short and a t-shirt. "Well, the Kazekage said that most of his good happenings were attributed to him getting a good night's sleep for the first time ever. How does a guy go his whole life without ever going to sleep?"

"Ah, that's right. You didn't know about Shukaku before now, did you?" He started washing his body off. "Well, Shukaku is one of the nine tailed beasts. Theoretically, he should be the weakest, seeing as he is the one tail beast, but trust me, he is nowhere near as weak as that. He was sealed inside of Gaara, which gave him an immense chakra boost, but also came at a price. See, Shukaku's strength can only be contained while Gaara is awake. If he falls asleep, Shukaku gets let out, and all hell breaks loose. Because of that, ever since his birth, Gaara has had to stay awake, keeping Shukaku's massive strength sealed away."

Ino actually stopped everything she was doing to listen to this story. "Oh my God. He had to stay awake just so he didn't unleash that monster? Why did he even have him sealed up inside of him in the first place?"

Naruto finished his shower and stepped out to dry off. "Power. The Sand Village was in a tight spot, so the Kazekage back then ordered that Shukaku be sealed up inside Gaara, thereby turning him into the village's greatest weapon of mass destruction. And considering how much everyone hated him because of the demon that was locked up inside of him against his will, he willingly became that weapon."

Ino noticed, just barely, the slight hint of resentment that was in his 'voice' as he 'spoke'. Not willing to push him any farther, she broke the connection and left it at that. 'He must really feel sorry for him, for what happened to him.'

Naruto stepped out of the bathroom, clad in his pajamas, topped off with his frog hat. Ino looked at him and smiled. "Sheesh, Naruto, when are you going to get rid of that thing? It just doesn't look right on you anymore."

Naruto stuck out his bottom lip at her. "When are you going to stop flaunting your body at me?"

Ino stood and looked defiantly at his. "Not until you finally admit that you are as perverted as your teacher."

"Then I guess this thing is staying on my head, because I ain't going to admit to something that isn't true." He laid gown in his bed and covered up. "Good night, Ino."

Ino sighed and smiled again. Deep down she had to admit that he looked rather cute with his little hat on. "Night, Naruto." She lay down in her bed as well.

Naruto was sleep minutes after his head hit the pillow, but Ino stayed up for a while longer, wondering about what she had learned today. She would finally go to sleep after lying in bed for a full hour, but not after promising to do a little digging into the past of Uzumaki Naruto.

-End-

Next chapter is done.

I'll try to work Gaara into my late chapters, as he is among my favorite Naruto characters ever. But be honest with me; how did I do with the post Shukaku Gaara?

As always, R&Rhave a nice day.