Disclaimer: (Insert funny joke about not owning Naruto here). Sorry, can't think of anything creative right now. I don't own Naruto, or any of it's characters.

Chap.7: A Time for Reflection

Naruto was sitting on the top the dome roof of the Subaka estate, admiring the stars in the sky. He had already brought his few belongings to a room that Gaara had told him would be his.

Naruto had meant to spend some time with Gaara, but Gaara politely declined. Gaara had stated that while Naruto had made Gaara realize a few things, he still wasn't in complete control of his situation, unlike Naruto. Gaara stated also that he didn't really sleep, so he decided to patrol Suna to keep himself occupied for the evening. Naruto decided to relax and enjoy the cool night air.

The sound of footsteps made the blonde look behind him to meet a rather blank-faced Temari.

"So...Naruto, huh?" she asked, letting a little anger show on her face.

"Temari-chan, I can explain-"

"Gaara already told me and Kankuro, and Baki know about it already. I just want to know why?" she asked as she took a seat next to the younger boy.

"Because...I don't trust myself with others anymore ever since the Kyuubi first revealed its power to me in a battle back on my first C-rank mission a few weeks before I came to Suna. That battle with Gaara only further proves how dangerous I am." he replied, staring at the sky.

Temari had the feeling that this side of Naruto was rarely seen; the side that showed he was actually quite sensitive and worried about what the few people close to the blonde thought about him. Regardless, she didn't accept that as an answer, "What do you mean?"

Naruto gave her a sad grin, "I mean that I don't know if I can always guarantee that I will have control over Kyuubi. I may end up hurting someone...or worse."

"Is that why you left Konoha? To protect those close to you?" she said, finally seeing what he meant.

Naruto simply nodded.

"Well, then why did you ever come here?" Naruto looked to Temari, and raised an eyebrow, "Surely you would only end up leaving again, right? That way, you wouldn't hurt anyone here, right?" She couldn't help but grin as she pointed out the flaw in his idea.

Naruto looked like someone had just told him that Kakashi didn't have a face underneath his mask, "Well...I..."

Temari laughed a little, "Naruto, you are kind of going against your own beliefs of protecting those close to you by leaving them...but I can tell you care deeply about them if you're willing to leave them to 'protect' them." she slowly placed a hand on his, and gently squeezed it.

Naruto nearly jumped at the contact, and gave the wind-maiden a confused look, "T-Temari-chan...?"

"You did something that I had never thought possible today, Naruto. You saved Gaara from himself...you freed him from his...problems, I guess. Our family owes you our thanks at the very least. So...thank you."

Naruto grinned, and rubbed the back of his head, "Heheh, it was nothing."

Temari seemed to grip his hand tighter, and Naruto stopped his nervous grinning as he looked into her eyes to see...tears?

"I mean it, Naruto. You made Gaara...feel alive in a whole new way, " she started to shed the tears, and quickly wiped them away with her free hand, "You want to know something?"

Naruto nodded, unsure of what he was going to expect.

"Gaara apologized to me for what happened today. He let me hug him after that. Hug him! He hasn't let me do that since...since...oh I can't even remember when the last time was that I did that!" she smiled, and Naruto felt his heart melt at the sight of how the moon shined on her face, "Naruto...I want to thank you for also saving me today. I could have been killed...but you saved me. Thank you..." she was now crying freely, even though it was still quiet.

Naruto had very little experience, if any at all, when it came to comforting a women in distress. He decided to wrap his arms around the kunoichi, hearing once that hugs were one form of comforting another. He was suprised when instead of pushing him away, she only held onto him tighter.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm glad you're happy about all this..." Naruto said, hoping she wouldn't think he was perverted by holding her.

Temari found that Naruto was a bit warmer than her, and had to use every bit of her willpower to pull away from him. She stopped crying and smiled, "Sorry about that...that was stupid of me. It's just, today truly has changed the life of my entire family. We used to be afraid of Gaara, and now I'm finding that Gaara wants to actually wants to spar with Kankuro and I, and learn how to prepare meals...it's just..." she shook her head, "Naruto, promise me that you never end up how Gaara once was."

Naruto smiled, and an idea came to his mind. He remebered back to what Haku had said about precious people, and to protect them at any and all costs, "I promise Temari. From here on out, I'll never go back on my word! That's my nindo! I promise I'll never become a distant, cold-hearted person!"

Temari couldn't help but smile, and her already huge amount of respect for the boy increased further. She just heard him declare his nindo, and that he would never go back on his promise. She couldn't help but smile even further, "Naruto, you truly are a wonderful guy."

Naruto had the decency to blush a bit at the compliment, and Temari smiled upon seeing this. She decided to tease him a bit, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before getting up, "Well, I"m off to bed. Why don't you and I go and train tomorrow? I can help you harness your wind better."

Naruto nodded with a dumbstruck look on his face, clearly suprised by Temari's kiss to the cheek.

Temari giggled, "Sounds good. I'll stop by your place tomorrow around ten or so. Good night, Naruto-kun."

A minute later, Naruto's eyes widened, "She just...did she...?"

Temari could hear the hooting and hollering of Naruto outside. Jinchuuriki or not, Naruto was worthy of her heart. He had already proven his strength to her, and his kindness had spoken for itself. Sure, he didn't alway run on all one-hundred watts of his brainpower, but she kind of thought that was cute. Maybe, just maybe, she could give Naruto a chance.

A loud "My first kiss from a girl!" made her grin.

Forget maybe giving him a chance. He didn't have a choice.

After hearing several yells from local passerby telling him to keep it down, Naruto finally settled down. He spent most of the remaining night admiring the stars, and absentmindedly touching his right cheek while grinning. After some time passed, he felt another presence, and turned to see the other local Jinchuuriki standing a little ways from him.

"Hey, Gaara."

The red-haired boy nodded, "You wouldn't mind if I joined you, would you?"

Naruto smiled, "Go right ahead."

Gaara sat down cross-legged by Naruto and joined the blonde in watching the stars.

"It seems that you enjoy watching the night sky as much as I do..." Gaara spoke, seeing the far off look on Naruto's face.

"Yeah," the blonde chuckled with a sad grin, "I find that it always helped me forget about the bad stuff in my life, and that I should be happy to be alive...and at the same time it reminds that even though I was alone, I never had to feel lonely..."

Gaara seemed to understand somewhat. He was never a person to pry with other people's thoughts, but Naruto shared a special connection with him, "How so?"

Naruto grinned, shaking his head, "You would think it's stupid."

Gaara shook his head, "I don't think that's possible if I can't have a reason to think that."

Naruto sighed, "Well, of all of those billions of stars in the sky, I sometimes like to think that maybe two of them are my mom and dad watching me."

Gaara said nothing for a moment, but spoke after a few minutes of silence, "I don't think that's stupid at all."

Naruto turned to him, "Really?"

Gaara nodded, "I can relate to that in a way. I don't have a mother..."

Naruto frowned, but risked to dig a little deeper, "What happened to her?"

Gaara let his eyes narrow a little as he stared at the crescent moon, "She died giving birth to me as a result of the Shukaku being placed inside me."

Naruto nodded, and said nothing further. They seeme to share a silent understanding with each other, and the two found themselves comfortable with it. Naruto found he had someone he could relate to in so many ways, and considered the boy a friend. Gaara found Naruto's outlook on life interesting, and saw that the blonde truly could understand the troubles he went through as a child. They carried a burden within them that gave them extraordinary gifts and horrible curses at the same time. Both had a few special people in their live now, and would protect them with their lives if need be.

Naruto eventually felt a yawn escape his body, and got up. He said goodnight to Gaara, and headed to the window to his room to get some sleep.

"Naruto..."

The blonde turned to see Gaara facing away from him, but he could tell that the Shukaku holder was not ignoring him, "Yeah?"

"If you plan to court my sister, Kankuro and I have already agreed that you have our blessing."

Naruto's face turned a shade of red, "Oh-um...o-okay...heh, I'm not entirely sure I'm quite ready for a girlfriend but-"

Gaara turned to face him, and raised an eyebrow. Naruto was relieved to see no malice in his eyes, "So...Neesan didn't propose you go on a date with her earlier this evening?"

"Oh! N-no, she simply offered to train me tomorrow in controlling my wind chakra better." Naruto explained.

Gaara shrugged, and turned to face the moon again, "Well, either way, should it happen, you have our blessing...and I might add that it would be in your best interest to take it, since she has quite a large list of possible suitors. If you wait too long, someone else may already start to court her. You just happen to be better liked by the family, so we don't mind if you're not officially courting her."

Naruto seemed to realize that he was dealing with the Kazekage's daughter, and that she very well could have anyone she wanted in a sense. He was even more suprised to know that Gaara and Kankuro favored him over some rich lord's son or a wealthy merchant, "Oh, well, um thanks, Gaara." Gaara nodded, and with that, Naruto went inside.

Truth was, the blonde didn't know what to think. A girlfriend? Was that possible for him? He recalled on several occassions that whenever he offered to take Sakura on a date, he was met with a fist to the face, followed by a mouthful of dirt and a large lump on the head in most cases.

Naruto lie in his bed for awhile, and decided to let the idea be stored into the back of his mind for now. No sense in losing sleep over it.

Still...Temari was a very beautiful kunoichi in his opinion.

7777777

Kakashi stood by an all too familiar stone. It was probably close to two in the morning, but he didn't really care. He usually only needed five hours of sleep per day and he would be fine. Besides, there was no training today since it was the the team's day off. He doubted they would actually use it as a break though; they never had since Wave. Sakura had increased her chakra capacity by more than half since they came back to Konoha, which was saying alot for her, and her taijutsu and genjutsu had increased by leaps and bounds. Sasuke even increased his Sharingan's tomoe by two, and his ninjutsu and taijutsu were nearly flawless.

It did bring him joy to see that his students were improving so much, and he was even happier to see that he was able to help in doing that. Still, Team Seven was only three-fourths of what is truly should be. A major aspect of their team was gone...a very bright, cheerful, and amazingly comforting aspect. Naruto had been the guy that helped Sakura show her intelligence, the part that drove Sasuke to work harder, and the student that made everyday a little different for Kakashi. He may have the smartest kunoichi and the top rookie of this year's class, but he didn't have it's most unpredictable ninja.

He did find comfort in the fact that Sasuke was more socialble and that he wasn't so distant anymore. In fact, on several occasions, he actually offered to pay for lunch when they took a break from training, which usually meant eating at Ichiraku's. Ichiraku Ramen was quite well off, considering it had its regulars, but Teuchi and Ayame were devastated when they first heard from Sakura and Sasuke that Naruto was no longer in Konoha. They ofcourse didn't explain the whole thing, and had to make up a few things, but the point still hit home with the ramen stand; their favorite and best customer was not around anymore.

One thing Kakashi noticed was the major change in the attitude of Sakura and Sasuke while they did train. They never complained anymore, even when they had to chase down the cat of the wife of the Fire Country's daiyamo. He even found out they set a record in catching the cat in only two minutes of locating the cat. Kakashi wondered how they improved so much, but he knew why...

The look that Sasuke and Sakura exchanged when they realized that if they became Chunin that they could lead a platoon of ninja said it all. They were improving so they could go and find Naruto. He was the force driving them so hard that even Sarutobi and Iruka noticed the vast improvement stated in their mission reports.

Kakashi looked at the Memorial Stone, "What would you have done, Minato-sensei?" he asked, looking at the name of the Yondaime carved into the stone. He knew the answer though. Minato Namikaze wouldn't have messed up to begin with.

Kakashi had been told by Sarutobi that the situation wasn't his fault, and that things like this can't be predicted. Kakashi disagreed. He believed that perhaps if he had spent a little more time teaching Naruto, if he had perhaps had been there for the boy when he was younger and given him the knowledge that someone cared about his existence, then maybe things would be different.

He sighed, and stood up. Now he was going to lose sleep over this, he just knew it. Oh well, Sakura and Sasuke usually started training before he arrived anyway, so maybe he could actually use the excuse that he had slept in. They would probably not bother him about, seeing as they didn't always get the best of sleep either.

"Naruto...I hope I'll see you again. I promise I won't fail you twice..."

7777777

"Wait, so this kid is Minato's son? Huh, I wish I had known that sooner..." said a certain Toad Sage.

"Yes, that is Minato's boy. His name is Naruto Uzumaki, and he's been missing for a little more than a month now." replied the Sandaime.

Jiraiya gave back the picture of Naruto to the elderly man, and then his face turned serious, "That isn't good. I actually bumped into this kid about a week ago outside of Fire Country. Didn't recognize him without the crying and the seal freshly placed on his belly though."

Sarutobi nodded, "So, do you know where he was heading?"

"Westward, not sure where he is now though. Had I known who he was though, I wouldn't have told him that Sunagakure was in the direction he was heading." replied the Sannin.

Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a tired groan. Suna? If Naruto had managed to cross the Wind Country's desert and had reached the Hidden Village of the Sand shinobi, this whole mess had just become an international level problem as well. Jiraiya stated that Naruto wasn't wearing a hitai-ate, and that he wasn't sporting the usual orange jacket.

"Well, this leaves us with at least three possible scenarios. One, Naruto is well beyond our reach, and has continued traveling beyond the five shinobi nations. Two, he's now in Suna, and possibly a shinobi of the Hidden Sand, or three...he's dead." Sarutobi said as he lit his pipe. He got up from his chair and looked out over the night sky of Konoha, a troubled look on his face.

Jiraiya didn't like seeing his former teacher in such a state, "Hey, come on old man, the kid seemed pretty capable of himself. Besides, even if he's in Suna, you can always have them bring him back to us. I mean, they are in an alliance with us. If he's one of their shinobi, he may even appear here for the upcoming exam."

Sarutobi nodded, "It's highly unlikely, but I do remember that Naruto was always known for suprising people."

The Third Hokage blew out a plume of smoke, and reminded himself of how capable Naruto was. A boy who had lived on his own his whole life seemed very likely to still be alive, he thought. He silently prayed that the boy was okay, and that if he was continuing to grow strong. Minato had asked that the boy be seen as a hero, and Sarutobi wasn't a man to abandon a hero of the Hidden Leaf.

End of Chapter Seven: Hey everyone, I've finally managed to get this chapter up! I've been busy with college recently, and have been working on my other stories as well. I'm glad to see that people were enjoying this story so much, so I think it's safe to say that I'm doing allright with the story so far. Hopefully I'll have another chapter up soon, but I'm not going to promise it. Don't worry, it won't take a whole two months or something like that. Maybe a couple weeks, but not too long! Anyways, thanks to those who continue to read and review, I really appreciate the support. As you can see, Naruto's become a welcome member to the Subaka residence. The next chapter may have a few timeskips in it (we're talking days and weeks , not years) and in case you haven't noticed, Temari seems to like Naruto, so that should make things interesting. Again, if you have any questions about the story, feel free to ask me, and I'll do my best to answer it without giving away too much! Until we meet again, keep on reading!