Hn, Kishimoto owns the dobe
Sage
"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light" - Hellen Keller
Naruto stared at the older girl for a moment, not that she could really tell due to his eyes being narrowed as they were. Slowly he stood up from his meditative position, gave a small bow to the girl, and made to leave.
"I apologise, I didn't realise this area was taken. I'll leave you then." He continued to walk off, the jangling of his shakujou the only sound in the relatively small space. The girl just seemed confused at the odd blonde's very polite apology and watched as the monk walked towards the exit of the training ground. However when she notice the many split leaves all over the ground as well as a few burnt ones her eyes widened.
"Wait!" Naruto was mildly surprised as he felt a hand wrap around his arm as the girl tugged him back. She held one of the many split leaves in front of him, a small recognisable sparkle in her eyes as she smiled at him. "You're practising wind manipulation?" Naruto nodded once, his usual smile still spread across his features. He crouched to the ground, picking up a leaf before holding it out to the girl; to her amazement it quickly spit straight down the middle, the cut still slightly jagged which mildly annoyed Naruto.
"Oh wow, that was really good! Baki-sensei told me about this but he won't let me try it yet." She suddenly became shy as she looked down at her feet, noticing the newly split leaf float to the ground as Naruto released it. "Sometimes though I sneak out here to try it but all I can ever get it a tiny cut." Suddenly a mildly suspicious look alighted on her rather pretty features, in Naruto's opinion. "Who are you anyway? I don't recognise you from the academy; I would have remembered your hair." Naruto chuckled at that as he leaned against a tree, for now resting his staff to the side.
"I'm not from Suna. I'm just travelling, trying to learn all I can about chakra." The other blonde blinked at that; as far as she knew elemental manipulation was only used by shinobi.
"So you're like a monk?" Naruto smiled warmly again as he gestured to the staff which made her slightly embarrassed.
"I am a monk; this is part of my pilgrimage." The Suna Genin now just seemed confused; only a few minutes with Naruto and she already had more questions than answers.
"But don't monks just, you know, pray or meditate and stuff?" Naruto slowly slid down the tree to a cross-legged sitting position, it didn't seem like he would be leaving any time soon. Seeing no reason not to the girl joined him, attempting to copy his sitting position but only managing a loose facsimile.
"I think you are confusing us with priests, we don't pray." Naruto shook his head, thinking better of that "At least many of us don't, everybody is entitled to their belief after all. Being a monk is more a way of life than a faith, we simply take up the values of clean living, kindness, and peace. The girl's eyes seemed slightly wider after he finished, the smallest hints of admiration in her eyes that quickly became sceptical.
"Aren't you a little young? You seem even younger than I am." Naruto just gave her an easy grin which caught her off guard, she had expected her comment to rile him up slightly not that she had wanted to exactly; most people got annoyed when you underestimated them.
"Like I said, it's a way of life. There is no age limit, only that you understand what you are committing to; I myself am eleven." The girl settled at that although she was still slightly sceptical, that was the age of a fourth year academy student. "My name is Naruto by the way." The girl was pushed from her thoughts by a hand held out in front of her; after a moment of hesitation she took it, shaking it once.
"Temari." Again Naruto just gave an easy grin as Temari got into a more comfortable sitting position.
"It's not for everybody." At that Temari chuckled as she drew her legs underneath her, resting on one hand; the dusty ground seemingly not concerning her. "So you're interested in wind manipulation?" Temari nodded enthusiastically as she idly played with a leaf in her hands, concentrating for a moment as a tiny cut appeared where her fingers where holding it.
"Yeah, my father got me a battle fan when I graduated the academy so I want to train with it and make him proud. My dream is to be just like Pakura-sama; to be a strong Kunoichi like her and earn a name for myself." Naruto gave a small eye-smile that had a certain masked Shinobi in Konoha sneezing.
"That is a good goal, I wish you luck." He got up to leave but once again found Temari holding his arm, preventing him from leaving. This made him arch an eyebrow. The other blonde looked down for a moment, seemingly conflicted about what she was about to say.
"Would you mind helping me?" Naruto blinked before suddenly laughing causing an irritated expression to form on the older blonde's face.
"Hey, what's so funny?! Just because I'm a Kunoichi I'm not good enough for you to help? Don't you know how hard it was to ask for help from somebody two years younger than you?" Naruto stopped himself, wiping away an imaginary tear as he straightened up, his hand waving apologetically.
"Sorry, it wasn't that, but I'm just amazed you're the second person who has asked me that since I arrived here. Of course I would be happy to offer what help I can. Oh, and the first person to ask for my help was a Kunoichi too, so don't go using your gender as an excuse to get angry with people. It's unbecoming." He bent down, picking up a leaf and handing it to the girl before gently placing his hand around hers causing the older girl to blush.
"W-What are you doing?" Naruto gave her a disarming smile that made her relax slightly without entirely knowing why.
"I want you to try to split the leaf. I'm going to see what you are doing; I can read your Chakra through contact." Temari seemed unsure; she had heard of sensor ninja before but never ones that required contact; it seemed impractical. Even so she began to channel Chakra into the leaf, doing her best to change it into wind nature based on what information she had gotten from a few older Genin and Chuunin. Sure enough a tiny slice appeared where her fingers gripped the leaf which made the girl deflate, it looked so pathetic compared to all the completely split leaves littering the ground.
"Alright, I think I see your problem." Temari looked up before her face took on a hint of red as she noticed Naruto was still holding her hand. The younger boy barely noticed as he was more focused on what he had felt and was looking off to the side. "You are trying to convert your Chakra into wind while it is still inside your body. You need to be doing that at the moment it is released, not too much before or after. Try it again and keep that in mind." Doing her best to combat her growing blush Temari accepted another leaf handed to her before repeating the technique.
Naruto was pleasantly surprised as he felt her Chakra begin to shift into a specific nature just before she released it into the leaf. Temari was far more ecstatic as she saw the leaf split three-quarters of the way through, it was a rather rough, jagged cut but it was a marked improvement.
"Wow, that was amazing, just one hint and I improved so much!" She gave the younger blonde a gleaming grin and suddenly Naruto was the one who found a tad more colour in his cheeks. He had thought of Matsuri as cute before but Temari was most certainly very pretty. He was broken from his slight daze as he saw a hand waving in front of his face and a confused Temari staring at his blank expression.
"Uhh yeah, that was really good, but you are letting your Chakra build up before you release it, that can be quite dangerous when you are shifting the element. Once you convert Chakra to a different element it becomes harder to control because it is not entirely yours anymore, you have opened it up to the element itself. You need to release it as a continuous flow, but this will come with practise." Temari smiled and nodded, after being helped so much she was about ready to take the blonde's words as gospel; however a frown momentarily marred her brow.
"What do you mean it's dangerous?" Naruto thought for a moment for a way to describe it before looking up.
"Just because you perform a Jutsu does that mean you are immune to its effects?" Temari quickly shook her head in the negative; her sensei had stressed that many more tactically-minded Shinobi would use their opponents strengths to their advantage. "Well then it's no different to the Chakra that makes up the technique. While not impossible it is highly difficult to control an unpredictable element like lightning or wind inside one's body." Temari just nodded at the logic, she found Naruto to be a very good teacher; he found simple ways to explain things.
"Now if you want to improve the smoothness of the cut..." he picked up another leaf and split it quickly, holding it up to compare with Temari's. "...You need to focus on sharpening your chakra. Imagine it like two of the finest swords scraping against one another, sharp and fine." Temari once again nodded before grabbing a few leaves and retreating further away into the training ground. Naruto returned to his meditative position before fishing out one of the scrolls Matsuri had given him.
A few hours passed as Naruto calmly continued to read his scroll about chakra; there wasn't a lot he didn't already know but it was still interesting. Over that time he had heard many cries of success as well as irritated shouts of frustration; in either case they brought small smiles to his lips. He was sure Sora and Temari would have much to talk about, both being avid wind enthusiasts. He briefly wondered how a confrontation would go but was interrupted as he felt somebody shake his shoulders.
He looked up to see Temari, a victorious and self-satisfied smile on her face as she held a leaf in front of her. She put it between both of her palms before gaining a look of intense concentration. After a few moments she looked up and opened her palms, between them, cut down the middle with very wonky and jagged line, was the leaf. However Naruto was very much impressed, she had managed to completely split the leaf; her affinity to wind must be incredibly strong.
"I did it!" Naruto returned the beaming grin Temari was giving him with a smaller, more reserved one of his own.
"That's wonderful, you improved really quickly." Temari just gave a small snort of agreement as she plopped down next to the seated monk.
"Yeah, but I couldn't have gotten nearly this far without your help." Naruto gave a small conceding nod before grinning.
"All you have to do now is work on straightening your cut and doing it without having to concentrate so much and you'll be ready to move onto the next stage. I'm sure your sensei will be very surprised." Temari almost gleamed as he said that before looking across at the blonde curiously.
"There's a next step?" The younger blonde gave a small nod as he began to absently draw out a waterfall with the end of his Shakujou.
"Yes, you have to split a waterfall with your Chakra" Temari gulped at that as she saw Naruto sketch out a small stickman in the sand underneath the waterfall. "This first stage was about control and precision, the next stage is about power and maintaining a steady, constant stream of wind Chakra." Temari seemed daunted by such an imposing task while Naruto appeared nonplussed. "It's getting late." Temari was roused from her trepidation as she looked up; sure enough the sun was beginning to dip over behind the buildings.
"Oh, I have to get home!" She shot to her feet and began to race towards the entrance of the training ground; however she suddenly turned and waved. "Will I see you again?" Naruto shrugged with a lopsided smile.
"Hey, anything can happen." Temari smiled cutely before turning and running of back home leaving an amused blonde to puzzle how he managed to get into these situations.
It turned out Naruto did see Temari again, more than a few times seeing as it was her training ground and Naruto didn't bother to move. After the first day though there wasn't really much he could actively help her with besides a few pointers. Steadily they both improved, Naruto slightly faster due to starting earlier, his better chakra control and understanding the nature of wind Chakra better thanks to his reading. He had recommended Temari read as well but she was more the type to learn by repeated practise, very much like Sora and how Naruto used to be. He still learnt mainly by that method but now he liked to try and understand what he was doing better.
One day about a week into their strange meetings Temari brought her fan along. Naruto hadn't known what to expect when the older blonde mentioned her battle fan but he hadn't been expecting an enormous steel bar that was as tall as the girl was herself. However as he expected the girl had quite a bit of difficulty moving the enormous wind-weapon; suddenly Naruto had something new to teach her.
Slowly Temari got the hang of reinforcing her muscles with Chakra as well as timing bursts of energy to increase the power behind her swings. So she was able to swing the large fan around as if it were made of paper like its more traditional counterparts. Apparently her father had been incredibly impressed when she had shown him but thankfully she heeded the blonde's advice and didn't mention the monk. When Naruto had found out her father was the Kazekage himself he wasn't entirely sure what to think.
It didn't particularly change his opinion of the girl like Temari had expected, he believed everybody was their own person, regardless of who their parent were. The older blonde was pleased by that, usually people would avoid her due to her being the 'honoured daughter of Yondaime-sama'. Of course there was another glaring reason why people avoided her but that had nothing to do with her father.
Naruto didn't neglect his time with Matsuri either but between her time at the academy and Temari's obligations with missions he didn't see either as much as they both probably wanted. So far the two had yet to meet thanks to some strategic planning on the blonde's part. He wasn't sure how the Shinobi of the village or the Kazekage himself would react to him giving pointers or in some cases, Jutsu, to the girls, especially as one was his daughter. He wanted to keep his involvement as quiet as possible and that meant keeping his two 'students' apart.
One day he was just finishing up a scroll that he was particularly captivated with. It described old Suna Shinobi using techniques known as 'free-form wind manipulation', what used to be the highest calibre in that discipline. It involved saturating the area in wind Chakra that the Shinobi would then directly control with their Chakra; no hand seals were involved. However due to the difficulty, large reserves required and years of dedicated training necessary it had become a dead art. There was nobody in the village that still used it or even attempted it anymore and only a handful of Shinobi had ever managed it.
Suddenly he was interrupted as somebody new landed in the training ground. Luckily he was underneath the shade of a tree, the sun at his back, hiding him from sight somewhat. The newcomer, a boy perhaps a year older than him with spiky brown hair and an almost perpetual scowl on his features, immediately made their way over to Temari. The girl had been dutifully practising the leaf-cutting exercise but quickly hid the results behind her, not wanting anybody to find out about her training just yet.
Naruto saw the two speak in hushed but urgent tones before both raced off suddenly back towards the village. Knowing he wasn't going to get anything done now that he was curious, Naruto got up and followed after them quietly, once again silencing his shakujou. It didn't take Naruto long to lose them in the midst of Suna's winding streets and throngs of people. He had gotten used to the village somewhat but Temari and the other boy had moved off at Shinobi paces and Naruto didn't want to draw attention to himself.
However soon he noticed the streets becoming quiet as less and less people moved about outside. Continuing to walk in that direction he soon found himself completely alone on the streets, which was odd as the sun was only just beginning to move past the horizon; more people should have been out. He finally reached a small park enclosed on all sides by buildings; it was more a strip of bare land really, just a sandy space with no buildings. At the centre of the park was a lone boy, probably around the same age as Naruto was.
Curious as to why the boy was out here all alone Naruto approached him, now able to pick put details. He had dull red hair, closer to brown really, framing a set of teal green eyes and pale white skin. There were strange black rings around the boy's eyes that reminded the blonde of his own whisker marks. Most curiously the kanji for love was seemingly tattooed on the boy's forehead above his left eye in bright red.
He was sitting cross-legged with his hands in his lap, just staring ahead into space almost lifelessly. Occasionally he would mutter something Naruto couldn't quite make out in a low gravelly tone. Slowly Naruto settled down into a seated position of his own across from the boy, neither saying anything for a while. After a minute or to Naruto closed his eyes, somewhat enjoying the perfect quiet that permeated the area. He had missed this from the temple, unable to find many places of solace in the bustling Shinobi village.
"Why are you here?" The other boy's voice finally shattered the comfortable silence Naruto had lapsed into; his grave voice sounding emotionless.
"This seemed like as good a spot as any to meditate; it is rare to find such solitude in a village like this." The other boy looked up, regarding Naruto coolly with bloodshot eyes; it was apparent he hadn't slept in some time.
"People avoid me, they know better than to come near me. Their blood stains my sand when they do." Naruto looked up, his eyes opening slightly; he wasn't naïve, he saw the redhead slowly push his Chakra into the sand around them. The time he had spent meditating he had been absorbing it all in a meter radius. There was something about the boy's Chakra that was familiar to him; the only way to describe it would be a less potent version of his own.
"Why?" Gaara blinked once, his face still an emotionless mask; Naruto wasn't sure if that was to do with his mind-set or whatever the thin layer of chakra covering his body was.
"Mother demands their blood and doing so proves my existence." Naruto nodded slowly, as if he were accepting the statement at face value, actually mildly surprising the redhead.
"You think killing proves your existence? That taking a life somehow increases the value of your own?" The redhead growled suddenly as the sands around him began to writhe violently, save for a small circle around Naruto where they were perfectly still.
"If Mother demands it then I must do as she says otherw- Aghh!" The boy suddenly gripped his head right over the tattoo; he was obviously in pain as he began to mumble to himself in hushed, apologetic tones. As suddenly as it happened it seemed to stop, the boy looked back up, murder in his eyes as he glared at the blonde. Naruto continued to calmly observe all of this, not particularly straining himself to absorb the chakra in the sand around him.
That was the great thing about the Preta path, it wasn't like normal Jutsu, the more he used it the more energised he felt and he could vent excess Chakra directly into the ground. This of course had the added benefit of acting like a buffer to the other boy's Chakra, making it more difficult for him to affect the sand. This silent staring match as the two boys asserted their dominance without words lasted for about another minute. Although it felt considerably longer. Finally the other boy let out a grin and even though it didn't even hold a drop of warmth Naruto returned it.
"Mother says you are strong, she wants to see your eyes. She screams at me to rip open your eyes!" Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, curious now to who this 'mother' was and how she was so well informed. Suddenly long tendrils of sand lashed out at Naruto, obviously aiming to crush him into the ground. However just like before as soon as they came within a certain distance of him they fell limply to the ground, disintegrating into the lifeless sand grains they should be before being reflected by some sort of invisible barrier.
"You are strong but you cannot deny Mother her desired blood!" The boy continued to throw attack after attack at Naruto who remained perfectly still, focusing on keeping his sand out of range of him.
"You know I don't even know your name." The other boy paused in a rare lull of violence as the sand began to sway more neutrally.
"I am Gaara no Sabaku." Naruto chuckled slightly as another sand whip fell uselessly to the ground around him.
"What an appropriate moniker, I am Naruto Uzumaki, could you please stop attacking me now?" It seemed Gaara somewhat saw the futility in his actions, nothing he was doing could even faze the blonde. It unnerved the redhead; the only person who did not fear him like this was his father. The two shared that same unsettling calm while in his presence, the only difference was that Naruto's expression was warm while his father's was eternally cold.
"Why do you not fear me Uzumaki?" For once Gaara's voice lacked the bloodthirsty edge; there was genuine curiosity in his words.
"What reason do I have to?" The redhead blinked in surprise; the blonde was right, none of his attacks had even come close to affecting him.
"How are you so strong?" Naruto sighed but the smile never left his face; behind his cheery demeanour though he was alert. He knew the boy in front of him was obviously anything but stable and to let his guard down now would be foolish. He may have been kind and wanted to help the boy but he was anything but an idiot; Chiriku had seen fit to beat that out of him quickly enough.
"That is a difficult question to answer. Some might say it is due to circumstances out of my control, or maybe it is in my blood? I like to think it is because I train hard to better myself." Gaara shook his head, looking like a dog unsatisfied with a meal.
"No no no! What drives you?! What allows you to be so strong?!" Naruto blinked before looking down in thought; Gaara used the opportunity to try and attack the blonde again but the attempts were quickly rebuked.
"I want to understand." Gaara's attacks all stopped at once as the redhead once again regarded Naruto carefully.
"What do you mean?" Naruto looked up, a kind smile adorning his features.
"I wish to understand the world, people, Chakra; I want to learn and know these things. To do so I have to grow stronger. To understand people is to understand the world and it is only through understanding will we reach peace. I don't want to see the people who are precious to me get hurt or suffer so I have to understand in order to strive for peace." Gaara looked down at that, his hair shadowing his eyes as he seemed to contemplate the words.
"Prove it to me." His words were nothing but a whisper, barely carried by the breeze over to Naruto. "Prove to me that your method of gaining power is superior. I fight because I refuse to let my existence be erased. Now prove it to me! FIGHT ME UZUMAKI!" Even as Naruto watched the sand around Gaara began to congregate, draw together as if by some unseen will. Now Naruto finally understood; the thin shell around Gaara's body prevented him from seeing but now, as the sand began to form into some misshapen creature, he could see it all too clearly.
Gaara was a Jinchuuriki like him.
The signs were all there, flowing through the sand was the same red Chakra that Naruto had and Sora once possessed. However it was not as thick or as potent as the Kyuubi's chakra, not surprising considering it had to be a less powerful Bijuu inside of him by default. Naruto sighed slowly; right now he was looking into a mirror of what he might have been. He could only imagine what must have happened to Gaara to make him this way; it was also obvious his Bijuu was affecting him, no doubt this 'mother' he spoke of.
"I don't intent to fight you Gaara." The redhead just laughed maniacally, drool beginning to drop from his extended mouth as his features took on the likeness of a raccoon. Naruto had done his research since finding out about his status as a Jinchuuriki, what he was looking at was the vessel of the Ichibi no Tanuki, the one-tail.
"It's not your choice. NOW MOTHER WANTS YOUR BLOOD!" Naruto knew this was a problem, Gaara had begun to leak off his Bijuu's Chakra in droves. Naruto was doing his best to absorb it from the air but he knew it was only a matter of time before this was investigated. Unfortunately that meant he had to make this quick.
"Very well, I am sorry then." Naruto calmly raised a single hand as Gaara's long sandy tail began to sway menacingly, the point sharpened in preparation of impaling the blonde. Naruto opened his eyes fully for quite possibly the first time since arriving in Sunagakure no Sato but in his bloodlust Gaara wasn't even paying attention. One of the rings around his eyes suddenly seemed to contract slightly as a rush of intense chakra moved through his body.
"Shinra Tensei." He didn't even shout the name of the technique so Gaara was all the more oblivious as he was suddenly struck by an incredible, invisible force. His feet remained firmly stuck to the ground by Chakra he had already been channelling but a great deal of his protective sand layer had been blown off, enough to expose Gaara's body. Just as calmly Naruto raised his other hand up, this time instead of his palm being flat out it was cupped slightly.
"Banshou Ten'in." Focusing on the small redhead as opposed to the mass of sand re-congregating on his body Naruto gently pulled his hand back an inch. The effect was immediate as Gaara suddenly flew forward, his eyes wide in shock as his sand cloak was left where it was, twitching slightly in confusion. This confusion meant he could do nothing, nor could his sand react fast enough as he suddenly found himself being held up by Naruto in one hand.
The blonde suddenly dropped the frightened redhead which left him sprawled out on the ground, his eyes fearfully looking up at Naruto. It only lasted a second before Naruto gently pressed the end of his staff against the Jinchuuriki's forehead. Immediately Gaara found he could not move, his whole body was paralyzed, he couldn't even move his eyes or speak. Even so the sheer terror in his eyes as Naruto walked over and crouched down beside him was unmistakable.
"I am not going to hurt you Gaara, but at the same time I cannot allow you to hurt me. Don't worry, this paralysis will wear off in about an hour, or I can release it myself if you promise to calm down." Surprisingly there was no hint of patronization in his voice and his expression only spoke of genuine concern. Gaara had never felt so vulnerable in his life; here this boy could end his life with less effort than it would take to scrape dirt from his sandal and Gaara didn't even have his sand armour. Naruto didn't wait for a response as he once again tapped Gaara on the forehead with his staff.
"Why?" Naruto regarded Gaara for a moment as he got back up, the sands immediately swarming to him and congealing back into his ultimate defence.
"Because we share a common burden, and I know better than anybody that you don't deserve any more suffering." Suddenly the two were interrupted as a Suna Shinobi dropped down from a nearby rooftop, looking hesitantly at Gaara and suspiciously at Naruto.
"Gaara, you will go see your father immediately." The redhead looked at the man for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly before widening in shock. Naruto had placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, the sand falling away harmlessly at his touch. His automatic defence hadn't even quivered at the blonde's approach and for the first time in his entire life Gaara felt the warmth of human contact. He looked to Naruto with an amazement that was only mirrored by the Shinobi standing there watching and after a moment of deliberation he turned and walked off.
When he was gone Naruto turned his attention to the older Shinobi who had interrupted. He was a tall man with the standard attire for a Suna Jounin with the addition of a white linen veil covering half of his face. In turn the man glared at the monk, simultaneously trying to ascertain his motives and understand exactly what he just did. Finally with a look of resolution the man nodded curtly before gesturing after Gaara's retreating form.
"I believe the Kazekage will also want to speak with you." Naruto gave a calm nod before gesturing for the man to lead the way which he did after a small frown flickered across his features.
