I'm so sorry I've been gone for so long, it's been over a year, I have no good excuses, I simply lost interest in Naruto for a while. But I'm back now and I'm feeling motivated to write this story. I can promise that next chapter will not take over a year to come out. I'm not entirely happy with this chapter but I figured that I've kept everyone waiting long enough so here it is.

Gaara had been in the past (or should he call it present now?) for a few days now and he'd spent the majority of the time trying to avoid people, which considering his status wasn't that difficult. The only person who actively sought him out was his uncle, who was clearly concerned for him.

He was having trouble adjusting to being a jinchuuriki again, it helped that Shukaku was being cooperative for now and was still weak from whatever the time travel process had done to him (the bijuu spent most of its time sleeping). The adjustment was still rough, he doubted he'd ever be entirely comfortable with Shukaku in the way that Naruto had been with Kurama.

The fact that all his relationships had reverted to how they'd been before he'd changed was distressing, and since he'd been in his five year old body his emotions had become harder to control.

So Gaara had been feeling unstable, which hadn't been unusual for him at five, though this was a significantly less dangerous kind of unstable.

Kiba and Sakura were his only allies currently and he had no way of contacting them, what he needed was an ally in Suna and there was one obvious candidate.

Yashamaru was the only person in the village that he really trusted (who was also an adult, he trusted his siblings but they weren't prepared for this kind of burden, at least not yet). Yashamaru on the other hand was a pretty well accomplished ninja and more importantly he cared about Gaara's well-being and would probably be willing to hear him out.

Yet Gaara had been putting off having the conversation mostly because he knew the consequences if he wasn't believed would be nothing good.

His uncle must have realized he was being avoided as being the considerate man that he was, he'd given him space only interacting with Gaara at mealtimes. Though it was obvious that his patience was wearing thin.

Gaara had taken to walking around the village in order to re-familiarize himself with the way the citizens of Suna reacted to him, it hurt a little for them to be so clearly scared of him but he understood why.

It was during one of these excursions that his uncle, clearly feeling that Gaara had had enough time to stew in his thoughts, confronted him.

"Gaara" he said hesitantly

"Yes Yashamaru" he said knowing that this conversation was inevitable

"Is something wrong?"

Answering 'no' would just be him furthering his procrastination, he knew what needed to be done, best just to get it over with.

"Yes" he said grimly

Yashamaru's expression shifted to one of genuine worry, "will you tell me what it is?"

Gaara paused for a moment looking at their surroundings, there were way too many people around that could overhear the conversation, "not here, too many ears" he walked off as confidently as a five year old could manage (it wasn't very impressive)

His uncle followed obviously curious.

They ended up in one of the empty training grounds. Silence reigned for a few awkward minutes before his uncle spoke up.

"Gaara, can you tell me now?" he said carefully,

Gaara grimaced, "I need your help"

Yashamaru perked up a little, "I'll do anything"

Gaara's grimace deepened further it looked truly bizarre on his five year old face. "I need to explain some things to you"

Yashamaru nodded motioning for him to continue.

"Do you remember a few days ago when you found me in the middle of the street?"

"Of course"

Gaara paused again thinking on how to word so he wouldn't come across as completely insane, "the reason I collapsed… the reason I've been avoiding you is because something unexpected happened and I've been feeling a little overwhelmed by it"

"What happened?"

Gaara hesitated once again, he couldn't just keep talking around it he had to say outright or they'd be here all day. "I was sent back in time about 12 years and am mentally 17"

Yashamaru's face did a number of things that are difficult to describe.

Gaara continued heedless of his uncle's internal struggle, "I know this is hard to believe but if you are willing to listen I can explain how this happened"

His uncle still speechless spluttered a little, "whaaaa?"

This was not the reaction Gaara had been expecting, "do you need me to repeat myself uncle?"

Yashamaru seemed to snap out of whatever stupor his nephews previous assertion had put him in, "No, no I-I just have a few questions"

These 'few' questions actually ended up being around about fifty questions, and Gaara had had to summarize most of his life and the circumstances of his time travel.

Once Gaara was finished, Yashamaru looked like he'd been punched.

"Will you help me?" Gaara asked plaintively

Yashamaru looked grim as he considered everything he'd heard from his nephew, "My sister would never forgive me if I didn't, it's my duty to watch over you. You said you needed my help what is it that I can do for you?"

"I need father to know that I have Shukaku under control, so he doesn't send you to try and kill me when I'm six"

"…", Yashamaru clearly didn't know how to respond to Gaara's bluntness

"Also I need a way to contact Kiba and Sakura in Konoha"

"…"

"And I'd like to try reconnecting with Temari and Kankuro, once fathers been convinced"

Yashamaru pinched himself muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'not a dream huh' before looking down at Gaara an unidentifiable glint in his eye, "Let's start with your father ok we'll worry about the other stuff… later"

...

As promised Yashamaru reported to Gaara's father, that Gaara had control of the Bijuu within him. This pleased the Kazekage greatly though he went to see Gaara himself personally to confirm these claims.

He trusted Yashamaru and after he saw Gaara he agreed with the man's assessment.

After waiting a few weeks to see if this new found stability remained, he decided that Gaara should be trained to further his progress into becoming 'Suna's ultimate weapon'.

Speaking with his father felt strange to Gaara, they'd never had a good relationship and being civil with him felt alien. It was necessary though as he needed his father's trust so he could get access to his siblings.

After a month of training, his father seemed to relax and granted Gaara permission to see his siblings with Yashamaru's supervision.

...

Seeing his siblings again was a little overwhelming. He felt the need to apologize for his past self's actions even though they hadn't happened in this timeline (for the most part at least). Gaara's mental breakdown had happened when he was six in the original timeline but he hadn't been the picture of perfect mental health before that. (Having a demonic Tanuki constantly threatening you from inside your head would do that to you.)

As soon as he was close enough he latched onto his sister, he heard what sounded like a squeak of fear from Kankuro, Temari however was stock still in his hold obviously unsure of how to react.

Gaara himself was unsure of how to react so he decided to do what felt natural.

"I'm sorry" he mumbled

"Wha-what?" asked an obviously confused Temari.

"I'm sorry" Gaara repeated a little louder a wobble clear in his voice

"For what?"

"I'm sorry" Gaara insisted.

It seemed like some sort of big sister instinct took over as she relaxed in his hold and hugged him back. They stayed like that for a while with Gaara apologizing over and over again until he managed to get his emotions under control again.

Reconnecting with his siblings was much easier than trying to form a relationship with his father. Though seeing his 'older' siblings at ages 7 (Kankuro) and 8 (Temari) was a little odd.

...

Several months passed and while Gaara knew he'd made a lot of progress on certain things he'd been unable to come up with a way to contact Kiba and Sakura. That is until Yashamaru mentioned that the Gaara's father would be visiting Konoha to meet with the Hokage and strengthen their tenuous alliance.

This presented a perfect opportunity, if he could persuade his father to take him on this visit he might be able to establish contact.

The training sessions with his father had continued and so he used the opportunity to ask about the visit.

"Father, is it true you'll be going to Konoha soon?"

"Where did you hear that information?" the Kazekage said narrowing his eyes.

Gaara looked at his uncle who was observing their training session like usual. He jumped at the attention looking a little sheepish before speaking up, "sorry sir, I mentioned it because it'll mean you won't be here to train him for week or so". Yashamaru was a good liar.

The Kazekage nodded at the explanation before addressing his son, "Yes, I will be taking a trip to Konoha soon and therefore will be unable to train you for a while, is that why you asked?"

"No, I wanted to know so I could ask you to take me with you"

The Kazekage's eyebrows shot up, "and why exactly would I do that?"

"I haven't been out of Suna before, I'd like to see Konoha"

"Konoha is a ninja village like Suna, it isn't that exciting"

Gaara knew that persuading his father to take him would be difficult for him, which is why he had Yashamaru with him. His father trusted his uncle and his opinion carried a lot of weight.

"If I might interject sir, taking Gaara with you might not be a bad idea"

The Kazekage turned from his son to address his former brother-in-law, "and why might that be"

"Konoha is our ally, at least for now, and taking your son with you would be a gesture of trust."

It was clear by the Kazekage's expression that this reasoning intrigued him, having Konoha's trust could be incredibly useful. Currently their status as allies was extremely tenuous and if bringing his children on a trip that had been intended to strengthen the alliance would assist in this goal he would absolutely do it.

"Yes, you're right, Konoha are soft they'd appreciate the 'gesture'. I should bring Temari and Kankuro too."

Gaara frowned at the tone, he'd known that his father wasn't fond of Konoha but hearing it was still disconcerting. He had a lot of work to do on that front.

Present Day Konoha

Kiba and Sakura were silent for a while digesting this information.

Sakura seemed to snap out of the reverie first, "I guess that explains why your father took you and your siblings here", she frowned, "though I don't like the connotations of that, is the Kazekage being disingenuous in trying to strengthen the alliance?"

Yashamaru who'd been silently listening this whole time chose this moment to speak, "though his reasoning isn't entirely ethical, the Kazekage does desire peace with Konoha"

Sakura nodded, "I guess I'll have to trust you, thank you for assisting Gaara, this must be very strange for you", she sounded sympathetic.

"Yes this is all rather stra-"

"Hang on! Rewind! What was that you said about this Zetsu guy having his own agenda we have to worry about" Kiba interrupted.

"I only repeated what Naruto told me" Gaara said solemnly, he was used to this kind of behavior from his interactions from Naruto and was unruffled by Kiba's poor manners, Yashamaru looked slightly taken aback.

"Well I guess that's one more thing to worry about" Kiba said a heedless of his rudeness

Sakura saw it fit to correct this behavior by way of elbowing his side and hissing at him, "You're being rude, you interrupted!"

Kiba rubbed his side scowling at Sakura for the bruise that would surely form there (damn her elbows were sharp!), "sorry about that" he paused for second scratching his head, "uh what's your name again?"

I hope this isn't too terrible, and again sorry this took so long.

And I know I skipped around a lot but I wanted to get through Gaara's flashback/explanation thingy so I could get back to writing about Kiba this story is about him after all.

Fun fact, while researching this chapter I learned that Gaara's fathers name is Rasa, also he was kind of a douche.

Anyway the next chapter will feature an unforeseen complication and more Kiba antics.

The next chapter should be finished in a few weeks, don't hold me to that though.