A/N: This is also not the epilogue. This is the second half of the snippets, covering the finals of the Chuunin Exam and the Konoha Invasion. At least how it happened in this AU.
"Nice tattoo."
Naruto huffed sulkily, breezing pass Shikamaru as Gaara facepalmed again and sighed.
"Why do you need to mention that?"
Shikamaru blinked. "What?"
Gaara shook his head and ran after Naruto. "Naruto, wait up!"
Shikamaru stared at their backs with a bored expression.
"Troublesome brothers."
Neji was obliterated.
The Hyuuga genius put up a good fight, but he suffered a phenomenon caused by the combination of his general bad luck and the unfortunate effects of his unfiltered mouth.
Naruto was already sulky over Gaara's not-tattoo even before he stepped into the arena.
Then, Neji had to bring up about fate and destinies and how Naruto would never be freed of the societal stigma against jinchuuriki no matter how much he wanted to help everyone, just like Neji would never be freed from his clan's backwards way of protecting themselves.
From sulky, Naruto grew angry.
Then, Neji brought up of how much of pathetic Hinata's crush to Naruto was, and how pathetic the girl's attempt trying to chase the shadows of the jinchuuriki brothers was.
Hinata wanted to be strong, and the brothers were the strongest in her batch.
She idolised them. She chased after their backs.
Naruto and Gaara were aware of that. That's why they trained harder despite being far stronger than genins their age. They knew that some of their classmates were looking at them as the closest source of inspiration to become better and stronger.
So, when Neji degraded her effort—along with other genins that have been doing the same as her—Naruto turned livid.
"Do. Not. Degrade. My. Classmates."
He flared his chakra as an emphasis—the blue chakra, his own chakra and not Kurama's—as he glared down at the beaten genius.
"I don't care that you feel like you can't change your fate," Naruto growled, casting his gaze up to the audience's podium.
He fixed his gaze on Hinata. He sought for Kiba and Akamaru. His gaze lingered on Chouji. His eyes softened upon meeting Taiko's nervous gaze.
"They're trying to change their fate," Naruto's voice was stern, a reminisces of Minato's Hokage voice. "Do not get in their way."
"They're weak," Neji spat from the crater he was lying in.
Naruto's chakra flared even more, now tinged with a hint of red.
"For now," he spat back, looking up to fix his gaze with Minato at the Hokage's podium.
Minato nodded encouragingly.
Naruto's smile grew fierce with determination.
"My classmates might be weak now," he said, addressing both Neji and the rest of the audience, his voice boomed in the silent arena. "But in the future…," he angled a fierce grin to the area among the audience where their classmates were waiting for his next words with baited breath.
He glanced down to glare at Neji.
"Years from now, once I become the Hokage," Naruto grinned with fierce determination. "They are going to be my trusted swords and shields."
Neji was gobsmacked.
Gaara huffed. Pride brimmed from his person as he exchanged glances with Shikamaru.
"Advisors?" Gaara hummed, aware of the Nara's intelligence.
There was no way in hell Gaara was going solo to support Hokage Naruto as an advisor. Hell. He might end up as a supreme commander instead, serving in the frontlines and happily left Shikamaru to deal with the Hokage's Tower as Naruto's advisor.
"I guess," Shikamaru snorted but quirked a smile regardless. "Troublesome."
The silence went on for a few more minutes before the proctor finally regained the functionality of his gaping jaw;
"The winner is Uzumaki Naruto!"
Minato was the one who led the deafening applause.
Orochimaru is insane. Rasa is an idiot.
Honestly. These two should be powerful fighters with decades of experience. Yet, they decided to team up and invade Konoha.
During the Finals of Chuunin Exam—when all strong shinobi of Konoha has gathered to watch the finals.
Idiots at their finest.
"You should have let their souls rest in peace," Gaara deadpanned, non-existent brows pinched near the marking on his forehead as he eyed his reanimated idol with utter distaste. "This is not the way I imagined meeting my idol."
That was the moment Gaara noticed a flicker of consciousness in Nidaime's blank eyes.
Gaara knew the Nidaime's works by heart. He has been reading and researching the Second's works since he encountered the term Edo Tensei. He was aware that the Nidaime has made a failsafe in all of his jutsu—especially in this particular jutsu, in case someone tried to reanimate him in this exact predicament.
The reanimated corpses could break their contract with the summoner, provided that they have enough chakra to do so and enough freedom to weave the necessary hand signs.
Should the second requirement could not be met, there was a second failsafe that included a third party breaking the contract for the reanimated dead. This second failsafe existed as a backup for a backup.
"You idolised the Nidaime?" Orochimaru's raspy voice slithered through the eerie air of the barrier. "Then, it will be my pleasure to have you die in his hands."
Obviously, someone was still holding grudges over the incident in the Forest of Death.
Gaara didn't know what to feel when Orochimaru sent the Nidaime to go after him while the Shodai faced off against the combined force of Minato and Naruto. On one side, Gaara was excited because not many people would have the chance to fight against their long-deceased idol. On the other side, the Nidaime was reanimated as a tool, with suppressed chakra and personality that it made Gaara felt like he was fighting Kankurou's puppet instead.
Nidaime-sama is still so strong, though.
Drenched from head to toe, Gaara's sand armour cracked and disintegrated, leaving him with only the protection of Shukaku's blue shroud. He and Naruto both have yet to earn the complete bijuu transformation due to the limitation of their young bodies, but their current progress should be enough to defend Konoha against this invasion.
Though, he might not be a match to the former Hokage…yet.
The next attack happened so fast—and this was coming from Gaara, who grew up with a father that constantly abused the privilege of teleportation in their daily life.
Senju Tobirama was insanely fast.
The former Hokage was quick to seize the chance once Gaara's sand armour was gone, lunging for a swift blow. The Raijin no Ken grazed the red-haired boy's side, just enough to break the first layer of skin but it was enough proof that Tobirama's soul was fighting against Orochimaru's will. That blow could've killed Gaara if the reanimated Hokage didn't changed his angle at the last minute. The Nidaime was so close that Gaara's eyes were at the same level as his blank red eyes when Tobirama suddenly blinked—the former Hokage's consciousness flickered to life.
The confused red eyes flickered around the barrier before the Nidaime gritted his teeth in a pure wrathful rage.
"Jinchuuriki," Tobirama murmured, just loud enough for Gaara to hear. He drove his sword further, though this time it didn't even touch Gaara's body as he whispered to the red-haired boy; "Destroy me and my brother. Destroy us before we destroy Konoha."
Gaara smirked.
"How about no?"
Tobirama's brows twitched.
"I studied your works."
Elegant silver brows raised in surprise.
"I know how to break your contract with your summoner."
This time Tobirama was straight up frowning. "Do it, then."
"On one condition," Gaara hummed, letting his shoulders fell slack, muscles loosened as if he was dying from Tobirama's sword.
Tobirama frowned deeper.
Gaara grinned.
"Be my sensei."
Nidaime was terrifying.
And Gaara was in love.
He wasn't sure what kind of love he felt for the Second Hokage—whether it was the adoring love of a fan and future student, or his love has morphed to something else that would give Minato a heart attack to even think about—but Gaara didn't care.
Gaara was expecting to have a mere few hours being the Second's student, due to the eventual result of breaking the contract that will usually end with the disintegration of the reanimated bodies. Sure, it will take time as the process was proportionate to the strength of the reanimated person, but the disintegration would eventually happen.
Surprisingly, it didn't happen like that.
Gaara has infused his and Shukaku's chakra into the failsafe jutsu to free the Nidaime, only to realise that Orochimaru was not using a human's corpse to bring the Nidaime back. Whatever that he was using as the sacrifice to grant the former Hokage their reanimated bodies, the body cells were not that of a human but felt like it was something else that was infused with the Shodai's chakra and DNA.
The reanimated body didn't disintegrate, but instead, it became alive.
The black of Tobirama's reanimated eyes turned to pure white.
The Nidaime is back—alive and kicking and violently pissed off.
Orochimaru didn't even stand a chance.
Tobirama dispelled the barrier as Minato, Naruto and the Shodai dealt with the Rogue Sannin—the two generations of idealistic idiots of the trio was attempting to talk Orochimaru out of his deranged vendetta while Minato smiled exasperatedly behind them. While the idiotic idealists did their thing, the Nidaime stood over the broken roof, looking over the various signs of battles all over the village.
"Jinchuuriki," the Nidaime called, turning around to look at Gaara. "Your name?"
"Namikaze Gaara," Gaara said, before promptly adding; "Nidaime-sama."
The corners of Tobirama's lips twitched.
"Sensei," the Second said. "Address me as 'sensei' when talking to me, boy."
Gaara choked on the air.
"You poor child!"
The sudden wail from the Shodai snapped Gaara from his fanboying choking as both he and his new sensei turned around, only to see Orochimaru being hugged to death by a teary-eyed Shodai. Tobirama's brows twitched upon seeing that sight, his lips curled to a scowl and he was all but stomped towards his elder brother.
"Anija!"
"Tobiiiiii," Hashirama wailed. "Let's adopt this poor child," he said, pulling the dying Orochimaru closer to his chest.
The 'what the fuck' was so loudly expressed on Tobirama's face that the Nidaime didn't even have to say it out loud.
Gaara levelled an unimpressed knowing look towards the beaming Naruto.
"So, it worked?" he asked, feeling like he was making the exact same expression as Tobirama now when Naruto grinned and gently patted Orochimaru's head.
"Yep~" Naruto giggled.
Gaara facepalmed.
"What is working?" Tobirama snapped, sending an accusatory glare towards the blonde jinchuuriki.
"Therapy no Jutsu." The boys said in unison—Naruto said it with giddy pride while Gaara said it with utter exasperation.
Minato laughed sheepishly in the background.
Tobirama's face made a thing that made he looked like he was so close to exploding. Though, before he could yell at all of them—there was a loud crash, the roof opposite them was obliterated into dramatic clouds of dust as a looming figure stalked through the destruction with such a dramatic flair Gaara vaguely was reminded of Sasuke.
"HASHIRAMA!"
That was it.
Tobirama exploded.
"YOU REANIMATE MADARA?!"
Orochimaru whimpered to Hashirama's chest.
"Madara!" Hashirama beamed brightly, pink and yellow flowers sprouted by his feet.
Tobirama facepalmed.
Gaara honestly had a sense of deja vu upon seeing that. The dynamics were amusingly familiar.
"Hashirama!" Madara yelled, pointing his gunbai in the Shodai's direction. "I'll end you this time!"
"But, Madaaaraaa!" Hashirama whined. "We're friends!"
Madara sneered.
"We're like brothers!"
"My brothers are dead!" Madara yelled in a wrathful rage. He then shifted his glare towards the very unimpressed Tobirama. "You killed my last brother."
"It was war, dumbass," Tobirama snorted. "Izuna was a victim of war."
"You killed him."
"What do you want me to do back then?" Tobirama sneered. "Put a flower crown on Izuna's head and have a tea party?" he deadpanned. " We. Were. At. War."
"YOU KILLED IZUNA!"
"Oh for fuck's sake. Just kiss already."
The annoyed loud voice halted the beginning of yet another epic fight between the founders. Gaara turned around just in time to see the arrival of the current Clan Head of the Uchiha and a strangely older Sasuke.
Madara gaped.
"And no, Senju," the older Sasuke huffed. "I'm against the flower crown and the tea party," he added, nodding in acknowledgement when Itachi excused himself to rejoin the other battles he must have left to escort this newcomer here. "Let's drink like men instead."
"IZUNA?"
Izuna closed his pitch-black eyes in resigned acceptance.
"Hey, Aniki. How're you doing?" he greeted, sarcasm dripping from each syllable. "Oh, wait. Don't answer that. You're being dramatic and idiotic as always, taking my spiteful attempt of ruining Tobirama's life using the combination of your dramatic chaos and Hashirama's idiocy way too seriously that you ended up wasting a perfectly good chance for peace."
That was a lungful of words. Gaara was impressed.
"You told me to not accept the peace!" Madara pointed an accusatory finger towards Izuna. "I'm just honouring your last wish!"
"Did you not hear me back then, Aniki?" Izuna yelled back. "I said 'Never accept the peace if you want me to haunt you'."
Madara was stunned into a baffled silence.
"And no thanks to you, I was pulled from a perfectly pleasurable paradise when you did just that and caused me to be stuck by your side as a ghost."
"What."
"It was hell," Izuna ranted, seemingly like he has been keeping this in his chest for a long time. "You can't see me, but I see you fucking up, ruining a perfectly good chance to mess with Tobirama's life when you could have pulled that emotionally constipated idiot into a kiss and become a legendary pair of the first peaceful shinobi village in history," he huffed, sending betrayed glares in Hashirama's direction.
"Emotionally constipated?" Tobirama hissed in disbelief.
Behind him, Gaara snickered.
"And I expect you to notice, Hashirama. It was so painful watching my idiot of a brother waxing poetic and drama about his feelings to Tobirama while swearing vengeance on his own crush over my name," Izuna was completely on the roll now, directing his sharpest glare at Madara, lips curled to an annoyed scowl. "The vengeance I did not demand at that."
Madara choked.
Izuna leapt towards Madara and swatted the back of his brother's head harsh enough to make the legendary Uchiha stumbled forward.
"My love sprung from my only hate, my ass," Izuna spat viciously.
Hashirama gaped in disbelief.
The faintest of pink coloured Tobirama's cheeks.
On the other hand, Gaara was dying from holding out laughter. Beside the Shodai, Naruto was in the same predicament—the blonde had it even worse, having to clamp a hand over his mouth, body trembling as he visibly struggled to not laugh.
The current generation had to wonder if they could relocate to the audience's podium so that they could watch the founders' drama from a much safer place but still enjoy the wonderful viewing experience.
Hashirama blinked, seemingly to finally be able to process the information when he loudly blurted out;
"THE FEELING WAS MUTUAL?!"
Tobirama's ears reddened when Madara directed his confused gaze towards Hashirama.
"What is mutual?" the legendary Uchiha questioned.
"Tobirama has a cr—"
"SHUT UP, ANIJA!"
Izuna groaned.
Minato wisely herded his sons and the rest of his ANBU away from the bickering founders.
Some drama was better left unseen.
"Kurama and I are going to fight in the frontline with Tou-san, Hashi-jiji and Tobi-jiji," Naruto announced, Kurama's chakra encasing his body.
Gaara nodded, turning around to the other side of the village where he could see the glimmer of Rasa's gold dust shimmered underneath Konoha's sun.
After the founders re-joined them from their drama—both Tobirama and Madara were significantly flushed to the exact shade of Sakura's hair, while their respective brothers hunched together in conspiring smugness—they have regrouped to devise the strategy to counter the invasion force. Gaara and Naruto made quick works freeing the reanimated founders from their bounding contracts with Orochimaru, resulting them to be reborn as human again, just like Tobirama did when his reanimated body was infused with Shukaku's chakra.
It was then decided that they will use both of the former Hokage as the element of surprise against the invading forces in the frontlines. Izuna volunteered to guard Orochimaru all the way to the prison before helping Kankurou and Temari securing a safe route for the civilians to evacuate.
Madara, on the other hand, promptly headed to the Uchiha compound when Pakkun arrived to inform them that Kakashi and the three remaining Uchiha of the current generation were cornered by a whole clan of bloodline hunters that have joined the invasion force and reinforcement would be very much appreciated, thank you very much.
The legendary Uchiha was theatrically pissed off upon hearing the news.
Gaara winced upon seeing three different Susanoo loomed from said compound—two of them were recognisable as Obito's and Itachi's Susanoo. Though, the other one—the biggest one—was the most vicious.
That was one of the worst ways to go—at the receiving end of the wrath of three angry Uchiha.
The poor bloodline hunter's clan would have been extinct by the time the Uchiha was through with them.
As for Gaara, he needed to stop his sire.
To be honest, he was terrified. Despite knowing that he was no longer that helpless child Rasa has tried to suffocate multiple times, the idea to face off against his sire alone made him wary and scared.
Whenever Gaara had a nightmare, it was always of Rasa's cold eyes and the breathless pain of being suffocated by a cloud of heavy gold dust. The man has scarred him in so many ways that a father typically would not.
Naruto sensed Gaara's inner turmoil and promptly wrapped his arms around Gaara's body—Shukaku's blue mixed a bit with Kurama's red as the declared elder brother between the two attempted to sooth the younger.
"You might still be able to salvage it," Naruto murmured softly.
"He is a lost cause."
"So did Mada-jiji," Naruto countered with a wry grin, tipping his head in the direction of the largest Susanoo that was protecting the west line of the village. "But look at him now."
Gaara quirked a tiny smile.
"Go," Naruto encouraged, squeezing Gaara's hand tightly. "You're not alone," he said, infusing their chakra together, reminding Gaara that he has never been alone. "All three of us are here with you."
Gaara's smile turned to a genuine grin.
How could he ever forget that? He has always been in a two-man team ever since the day he was born.
"Damn right, brat," Shukaku purred.
Gaara huffed, smiling fondly.
"Damn right."
"You're an idiot," Gaara huffed, chakra gathering upon his fist. "And suicidal."
"You're a traitor," Rasa snarled, subduing his son's sand with complete ease. "And weak."
Shukaku's chakra flared.
"I'll hold off his dust," the bijuu said, voice void of the typical mocking tone. "Go show him how well Konoha raised you, brat."
Earthy sand clashed with golden dust when Gaara swung his fist onto the ground, knocking Rasa off balance as the ground collapsed beneath them. Before the Kazekage could react, Gaara launched a doton jutsu, attempting to skewer his sire from multiple different directions. The Kazekage was barely able to evade the multi-direction assaults.
"You know doton jutsu," Rasa mused.
"Sand is a limited resource in Konoha," Gaara deadpanned. "I have to adapt."
The Kazekage snarled and changed the battlefield high up in the sky. Gaara followed suit, using his sand as a platform. He didn't flinch, not a shift in his determined expression when tendrils of golden dust shot out to assault him.
The first tendril merely grazed and cracked his armour, but the second one pierced through his side, leaving a painful hole on his body.
What even was new.
Shukaku's chakra shroud naturally healed him, but Gaara couldn't stop his automated instinct to bring his hand to his wound, feeling the soothing relief of the green chakra of his healing jutsu.
The training with Tsunade has been gruelling and intense that sometimes Gaara forgot that Shukaku could heal him too.
"You know healing jutsu," Rasa mused again, looking more and more baffled.
"Tsuna-baachan is impossible to fend off," Gaara hummed fondly. "It is a useful branch of jutsu to learn, though."
Rasa gritted his teeth and launched yet another attack with what was left of his gold dust that was not restrained by Shukaku. His eyes widened in shock when his golden defence was broken through, as all that he could see afterwards was the determined face of his youngest son, the fiery will in those pale green eyes and the swirling perfect ball of chakra in the boy's hand.
He has seen that perfect ball of chakra only once, years ago, back during the first time he faced the Yellow Flash of Konoha in a battle.
His monstrous child knew the Yondaime Hokage's technique.
The boy lunged towards him, the powerful impact of the spiral ball of chakra was reduced by a layer of earthy sand but the pain was still blinding when it made contact with his body. Rasa was sent crashing onto the ground with force powerful enough to create a giant crater.
He was coughing up blood when a blot of red hair and pale skin came into his blurred view.
"That is the Yondaime Hokage's technique," Rasa wheezed, choking on his own blood.
"It is," Gaara acknowledged. "Tou-san taught me."
For some reasons, Rasa felt painfully betrayed hearing that.
The boy shuffled to kneel beside him. Rasa felt the weight of the boy's stare on him—pale green eyes were painfully young and filled with sadness as they met his blurry gaze—as if the boy was trying to look into his soul.
Rasa wondered what did Gaara see.
The Kazekage coughed again, the injuries he sustained from the bijuu-enhanced Rasengan was worst than he expected. He was completely at Gaara's mercy now and couldn't stop the wince when surprisingly gentle hands wiped the wetness that was trailing down his cheeks—oh, when did he start to cry?
Gaara hushed him softly, murmuring gentle words.
Then, relief. Relief washed over him like a loving embrace as he felt the waves of soothing chakra spread through his veins and eased up the pain. He blinked the remnants of his tears away, only to see his supposed youngest son hunched over him, glowing green hands pressed over Rasa's wounds.
"Who the hell are you?" Rasa asked desperately.
What have you done to my monstrous child? He left unsaid.
Gaara blinked and turned his gaze from the bleeding wound towards his sire.
In those pale green eyes, Rasa saw his child's eyes burnt with the same fiery spirit he saw in the Hokage's vibrant blue eyes.
You're supposed to be my child.
Something deep within him, a piece of him that was supposed to die along with Karura was jolted awake. That revived piece was now whimpering mournfully, howling in regret.
You're supposed to be my child.
"I'm the Hokage's son."
Rasa didn't know why those words that slipped so fondly from his youngest child's mouth sent a stab of pain that twisted in his chest and left a vile taste in his throat.
Rasa wished that Gaara would just kill him right there.
A/N: One more chapter to go. Read and review, everyone~ Thank you!
And please tell me that someone gets the line that Izuna quoted Madara. XD