Chapter 7: The Examination

1 p.m.: Iruka's Apartment:

"So, you have two hours to meet with the Hokage and the clan head of the Hyuuga?" asked Kurenai, she and Hayate came to visit Iruka after they were done training with Shikaku-sensei.

"Yeah, the Hokage needs the Byakugan to see Gaara's chakra networks or that's what I think." Iruka said, he was playing with Gaara with a car toy.

"You think? Of course that's what they'll need Hiashi Hyuuga, because the Byakugan's main purpose is to see chakra points and systems, so there probably going to see Gaara's chakra flows." coughed Hayate

" I guess, so how was training with sensei?" questioned Iruka as he lifted Gaara up and placed him in his high chair, he was going to feed Gaara and…his teammates lunch.

"Ehh…it was okay, though I have the feeling that Shikaku-sensei was being lazy again." answered Kurenai. She took a seat in her teammate's kitchen table.

"When is he not lazy?" asked Hayate, he sat in a chair across from the female ninja.

"C'mon guys, you know that Shikaku-sensei can be serious and not lazy when involved with important missions and in combat." assured Umino.

"Yeah, but still it can get irritating." Kurenai added.

"Well, maybe one day he can change his lazy attitude…" started Iruka,

"And have his son, Shikamaru, replace our sensei's attitude. Hahaha, I see that happening." laughed Hayate.

"I see his son being like his father like the saying goes, 'Like Father, like son.'." joked the kunoichi. By then Iruka had placed lunch plates in front of them, lunch consisted of rice balls with a little grilled fish on the side. For Gaara, it was just carrot sticks, for he was already teething.

"Well, speaking of sons and Hyuugas, did you guys hear that Hiashi Hyuuga's wife gave birth to the heiress of the clan?" asked Kurenai.

"Yeah, we've heard, it was two day ago, the heiress was born the 27th and now were on the 29th of December. Wow, has time passed by so fast." commented Iruka, "Especially these past months since adopting Gaara. Wonder when his birthday is?"

"It must be difficult not knowing when it is, but let's guess it's around January and February." said Hayate. "Looks like he's going to turn one any time soon."

"Aaahhh….oohhhh…psshhh." Gaara was making funny noises, anything to not eat his carrots.

"C'mon Gaara, eat the carrots for me please." demanded Iruka as he tried to feed the child his lunch but Gaara shut his mouth and turning his head sideways, avoiding the carrots.

"Just leave them there in his plate, he'll eat them eventually." advised Kurenai, "Oh I was thinking what if Iruka wrote a letter to the Sand village, asking if Gaara's biological parents can tell him when his birthday is."

Iruka was thinking and when he thinks he rubs his chin with his finger and looking up the ceiling. Which to his teammates find it weird but okay.

"That's a good idea, but how?" he asked.

"You (Cough) ask the Hokage of he could send the message to the Kazekage asking the question." suggested Hayate.

"Sounds good, I'll ask the Third when I go see him for Gaara's chakra examination." Iruka decided, "Though, I wonder why I never bother to remember to ask the Kazekage when his birthday is, let alone where and who are his biological parents are."

"It's because you have the habit to think the important facts in a late notice, dim wit." giggled Kurenai.

"Hahaha…very funny." Iruka said sarcastically, he then notice that Gaara was biting or at least trying to take a bite of his carrot stick.

"Arghh…Dada…me can't" the little red-head boy whined.

"Ahh… he's so cute, Iruka. I can't wait until he can form sentences." complimented the Kunoichi.

"Right…well for now he's stuck saying simple word. Ok, Gaara almost there, c'mon you can eat that carrot." the young father encouraged his son.

"Has Kakashi came by for a visit?" asked Hayate as he was putting his plate away in Iruka's sink.

"Yeah, he came yesterday afternoon with Naruto." answered the Chunin. "Though he left immediately, because Naruto was crying and he left his supplies at his apartment."

"Pshh…he wants to be a dad and he forgets to bring the little boy's materials to calm him down and left your apartment." said Kurenai, "Well, why did Naruto cried?"

"I don't know, he was fine when he arrived with Kakashi but as soon as I introduced Gaara to him, that's when Naruto started to cry." explained Iruka, he picked up Gaara from his highchair and started to clean him while still speaking with his comrades.

"Really? Did Gaara scare him or something?" asked Hayate, "Maybe is the fact that your son has no eyebrows?"

"I doubt it, Naruto barely has eyebrows himself, but I would bet that Gaara gave him a scary stare at the blonde boy." Iruka inquired and looked down on Gaara, "Did you scare little Naruto, Gaara?"

"No…no…me…no" Gaara turned his head side to side indicated that he didn't.

"Well, he might of, is just he doesn't know it." Kurenai said. "Well, I guess I should go now, I need to get ready for a little training and leave you to get ready see the Hokage, Hayate you coming?"

"Yeah, thanks for the meal Iruka, you cook real nice, maybe better than any kunoichi I know." joked Hayate but then stopped laughing when Kurenai elbowed him in the stomach.

"Care to say that again, buddy?"

"Nope, sorry, bye Iruka."

"Bye."

"Heh, bye guys see you in a while." Iruka said as he led his partners out the door. Once they left Iruka came back and saw that Gaara was already standing up on his own but then two seconds later he felt on his bottom but not too badly or else he would have started crying.

"That was a job well done, Gaara, standing up on your own for two seconds." congratulated the Chunin. Gaara smiled at his father as if he understood what Iruka just said. Then out of nowhere, the red-headed baby, stood up and looked at Iruka and started to take his first couple of steps toward him. Of course the Umino was a little shocked by this but then got of his state when he noticed Gaara was starting struggle and was going to fall. Using his instincts Iruka ran towards the baby and grabbed him on Gaara's shoulders before Gaara's face landed first into the floor. Iruka sighed,

"Phew…that was close...but still wow, Gaara, your developing quite fast for a baby your age. Amazing, you did great but don't do that again for a while you're not ready to walk yet." Iruka had Gaara face him and Gaara just smiled as he closed his and snuggled closer to his adopted father. Iruka just gave a warm smile, "What I'm I doing talking to a 10-month old?" He rocked Gaara for a while until he realized that he had fallen asleep, so Iruka took him to his crib and placed Gaara in it and left the room. It was only 20 minutes after until Iruka heard a knock on the door. He opened the door and saw Anko, Kakashi, and Naruto in his doorstep.

"Hey, there pops, mind if we come in?" joked Anko. Iruka was twitching but answered the Jounins question,

"Come in, guys, though be a little silent, Gaara is sleeping."

"Ok, I'm only going to be here for a little bit, I've been assign a mission with Asuma." stated Anko.

"What brings you guys here? Not to be rude or anything but I'm leaving to meet with Hokage in about 45 minutes." asked Iruka.

"Well, I was going to come alone but then Kakashi saw me heading towards your house and decided to come with me along with the Uzamaki kid." Anko explained.

"Yeah, I wanted to come see you and have a chat unlike a couple of day's ago." added Kakashi. He was holding Naruto on arms.

"Oh, yeah did you bring Naruto's necessities this time?" asked Iruka in a teasing tone.

"Yeah, I learned my lesson." answered Kakashi.

"Darn, I was hoping to see Gaara today but the rascal is sleeping." complained Anko. Iruka nodded at her realization.

"Hmm… really I thought that you wanted to come here to be alone with Iruka." Kakashi said, and Anko started to blush and gave the masked jounin a dirty look.

"Umm…no...I..." she stuttered, "Well…I got to go now, I don't want to be late for the mission. BYE!" and without a second to spare Anko was gone.

"Why did you tease her like that?" Iruka asked, "You know she's going to hunt you down and beat the hell out of you, father or not."

"Yeah, I know but it's nice to be able to make a tough girl blush, you know. Especially when they have a crush on a boy." commented Kakashi, "You do know that she has a thing for you, right?"

"Yeah, but it'll pass eventually." Iruka answered.

"Party pooper."

"How am I a party pooper?"

"You don't want to a date a chick."

"Says the guy who reads porn."

"There not porn, there great works of literature." argued Kakashi,

"Sure, whatever. Can I hold Naruto for a bit?" asked Iruka.

"Yeah, I see no harm." allowed Kakashi, Iruka gave the jounin a weird look, "What?"

"Nothing." Iruka said as he stretched his arms to grab Naruto but before he could carry the baby, he heard Gaara crying in his room.

"Hmph, looks like your boy is up." commented Kakashi. "Go get him."

"Fine, sit down somewhere, I'll be back." said Iruka, when he got inside his room he was surprised to see Gaara trying to get out of crib, which he almost succeeded. Iruka quickly got there and lifted Gaara up before he could fall.

"Hey, little man, what do you think you're doing? You could get hurt by doing that you know?" scolded Iruka, sighing, "You know uncle Kakashi and Naruto are here revisiting us today but only for a bit because we're going to see the Hokage soon." When he finished announcing, he thought he saw Gaara make an evil look in his eyes but rubbed it off thinking it's just his imagination.

"Hey, Iruka, what time are you leaving to see the Third?" asked Kakashi as he saw his Chunin friend came back from his room.

"At three o' clock, why?" answered Iruka.

"Well, its 2:30, how about I come with you to the Hokage's tower and see what's wrong with your boy?" offered Kakashi.

"That would be great, beats then walking by myself with Gaara. Let's start heading there." Iruka said. Kakashi nodded and off they went to see why Gaara has excessive amount of chakra.

3 p.m.: Hokage's office

"Ah, Iruka, glad you're here and I can see that you brought Kakashi and Naruto." greeted the Third.

"Yeah, Kakashi insisted to come with me to check on Gaara." answered Iruka, he and Kakashi settled down with their child at hand in the Hokage's office. When they arrived they saw Hiashi Hyuuga already there waiting for them to arrive."

"Hello, Lord Hyuuga, thank you for coming to see what's wrong with Gaara and congratulations on having your first child." bowed Iruka at the head Hyuuga.

"Hello, and thank you and there is no problem or a bother for me to check on your adopted son, in which I should congratulate the both of you for making a big decision on raising a child at such a young age." said Hiashi.

"Thank you." both Kakashi and Iruka said at the same time.

"Well, since we're done with the greetings and such, we can start examining the boy. Iruka bring Gaara here." instructed Sandaime Hokage. Iruka nodded and walked closer towards the Hokage and Hiashi with Gaara in his arms. When he got closer to the adult, Gaara started to tremble a little and Iruka started to calm him.

"Hey…buddy…it's okay, they're are friends and they won't harm you one bit." assured the Chunin.

"I see that the child is extremely shy around strangers." commented Hiashi.

"Yeah, and he always clinging on to me every time someone gets near him."

"Well, don't worry too much it's just a phase." said the Hokage.

"Hope Naruto won't be that shy or scared." whispered Kakashi to himself as he looked down at a smiling baby Naruto.

"I heard that!" shouted Iruka.

"Ok, let us be silent, Iruka lay the boy down here." said the Third as he was pointing on what seemed to be a flatbed-table thing. Iruka put Gaara down but as soon as he did, Gaara started to scream and cry to Iruka.

"Ne…no...No…dada…don't go." he cried.

"What is he saying?" asked the Hyuuga.

"It appears that Gaara thinks that Iruka will leave him for Naruto, knowing that Naruto is the only baby here and it looks as if Iruka is going to leave him behind." guessed the Hokage.

"Ohh…Gaara, don't cry I won't leave, I promise, I'm going to be right here ok, shhh." assured Iruka, he stepped away from Gaara and stayed at least a good three feet away from the boy. In, which made Gaara more worried and was about to cry before he actually saw that Iruka was keeping his promise and stopped crying.

"That's my boy." said Iruka,

"No wonder he started crying as soon as we arrived at your place Iruka, he knew that you were going to carry Naruto." stated Kakashi as he was standing next to Iruka with the baby.

"How would he know that? If he was sleeping in another room?" asked Iruka.

"I don't know…instinct?" wondered Kakashi, "Which can also be explained why Naruto cried out of nowhere yesterday when you introduced him to Gaara and Gaara gave him a mean-scary look."

"Hmmm…I wonder how he would know, well on with the process. Hiashi…" said the Hokage.

"Yes Lord Hokage, I'm on it." the Hyuuga said as he made some hand signs, "Byakugan!" veins pop out of his face surrounding his eyes and his pupiless eyes now had visible pupils in each eye.

"So, anything strange in the boy's chakra system?" asked the Hokage.

"Yes, it appears that the boy has two different colored chakra flows." answered the Hyuuga.

"Really? Two different colors, Lord Hyuuga?" asked Iruka, Hiashi nodded.

"What are there colors?" questioned the Third.

"Well, it's hard to tell but I'm guessing that one is blue, which a normal chakra color while the other is light brown or yellow." (Color of the Sand, not red like the Kyuubi) Hiashi responded. "They seemed to be swirling but it appears that his normal chakra flow is in control of the boy, but the other chakra flow seems to be fighting the blue chakra as if there at a war with each other."

"Doesn't Naruto have two different chakra flows in him?" asked Kakashi.

"I suppose one being his own and the other, which is sealed in him, would be the fox's chakra." answered the Hokage, "But there is no battle going on in his chakra systems so he's safe."

"Dada…da…daddy. Me scared." started to yell Gaara. The Hokage looked at Hiashi and nodded his head,

"You can stop the examination, thank you for using your Byakugan for us."

"Like I said before, no problem, Lord Hokage." said Hiashi, he turned around and saw that Iruka was already carrying Gaara.

"So, what does this tell us about Gaara?" asked Iruka.

"It would seem that your adopted son doesn't have normal chakra and what Hiashi just explained to us on what was going on within Gaara, there had only been a few rare cases with the same description." said the Hokage.

"What do you mean? Gaara's case is a rare one?" asked Iruka. The Hokage just sighed as he took a puff of is pipe.

"Iruka, this child of yours has a ton of chakra in his system that's for sure and some of it doesn't appear to be normal chakra..." explained Sarutobi. That's when Iruka had some clue on what Gaara might be…

"Sir Hokage, you don't suppose that this innocent baby could be…" Iruka started to say but the Third finished his prediction,

"He might be a demon container." answered Sarutobi, when he answered Iruka's question, Iruka got worried looks from the Third, Kakashi, and Hiashi. Never in a million years would Iruka thought that the baby he willingly adopted would be a host of a demon.

'Could this be real? Just like Shikaku-sensei stated? And the real reason why the Kazekage was willing to let me adopt the child?' thought Iruka as he looked down to see Gaara give him a sad look in his eyes, making Iruka feel a little pain in his chest, 'No it can't be…'