dopliss: (horrified) Oh no… The time is near again!

Mizuki: (puzzled) What time?

dopliss: School is about to start again!

Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto. Weep for my coming torture! WEEP!


Sasuke, as tired and numb his body was, managed to look up at his two teammates. "What… what´re you doing here?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Sakura gasped as she saw the markings that covered most of her crush´s body. "Sasuke, hold on!" she said as he began writhing in pain. Kakashi-sensei said it was nothing to worry about…!

"Hey, uh, Sakura," Naruto said without turning away from Gaara. "Sakura!"

"What do you want?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

The orange-clad boy pointed at the mutated redhead. "This guy over here… who the heck is he?"

"His outward appearance may be different," Pakkun answered, "but he´s the one you know as Gaara."

Naruto was taken aback by that piece of information. He remembered back to when he encountered the youngest of the Sand Siblings in the hospital and how he told about how he had a monster inside of him. And what he saw right now was living proof of it. So this is what he was talking about…!

"Hey, little girl," the dog said to Sakura. "I guess now would be the time to tell you I´m not the fighting type."

"I can see that by looking at you!" she snapped, only to be interrupted by the pained moans coming from Sasuke. In any case, we´ve got to get out of here! We need to get Sasuke back to Kakashi-sensei!

Gaara hissed angrily at the newcomers. "What do you want?" he asked rudely.

Sasuke gripped his own neck, trying his damnedest to soothe the pain. Even with what Kakashi had told him about using the Chidori more than two times a day, he was also told that letting his hate consume him and relying on his curse mark would stop him from becoming any better, and therefore end his dream of killing his elder brother. Needless to say, he screwed up big time.

Gotta get it under control! he thought frantically as he succumbed to more pain.

"So… it´s you," Gaara said to Naruto, remembering him. "You´re the one I didn´t kill that day."

Realizing how screwed that they were, Naruto turned around and shouted, "Guys, get up! We need to get outta here, now!"

But before they could flee, Gaara leapt towards his downed opponent, intent on dealing the finishing blow. "DIE, SASUKE UCHIHA!" he roared, his clawed left arm reeled back.

But that was when Sakura moved in-between the prey and predator, a kunai in her hands, ready to protect her teammate like a mother would protect her child. The redhead looked at the defending stance that the pink-haired girl was in and remembered how, back then, Yashamaru had protected those children with his whole body from the attacking sand.

However, that did not stop him. "MOVE IT!" he shouted, and his left arm extended, grabbed Sakura, and pushed her against the base of the nearest tree, her head painfully colliding with the trunk.

The redhead suffered from another headache, and as he was distracted, Naruto leapt over to the branch that he was on, scooped Sasuke up in his arms, and jumped away from the blood-hungry boy. As the orange-clad boy put down his teammate and rival on another branch, he thought frantically of what to do now.

Gaara´s mind was in a predicament. Those that he had wanted to murder were protected by their familiars – first Guy protecting Rock Lee, and now this – just like Yashamaru had done. It was like whenever he tried to kill someone, another had to step in and stop him. "Why can´t I…?" he wondered.


Years earlier, in the village hidden in the sand, a young Gaara was staring at a picture of a woman with short sandy-brown hair and a smile on her face, a sharp contrast to the redhead´s small frown. He took a big knife, aimed it at the back of his left hand, and stabbed, only for the blade to be blocked by the sand. "It doesn´t matter what I do…" he said somberly, "the sand just gets in the way."

The sudden voice calling his name made the young boy turn to face Yashamaru, the young man now with bandages around his wounds and wearing an apron over his kimono."As a member of the medical team, our leader, Lord Kazekage, has asked that I see to your safety and wellbeing personally," he said, walking over to the boy, a kind smile on his lips. "Please, Gaara, it hurts me to see you do that."

Gaara looked down at the floor, ashamed. His caretaker scratched the back of his head and added, "Although, I suppose that the sand would protect you anyway."

Gaara took a quick glance up at the bandages that the man had around his body before looking down again. "Yashamaru… I´m sorry…" he apologized.

The man looked at his arms. "What, this?" he asked, no change in his mood whatsoever. "Don't worry… it is barely more than a scratch."

The young boy, however, was not cheered up by that statement. "The wound you got… does it hurt?" he asked in a mixture of apology and curiosity.

"Yes, a little bit… but it´ll heal in no time."

Gaara looked up at his caretaker again, ignoring the strong sandstorm that occurred outside. "Yashamaru… what does pain feel like?" he asked. "You see… I´ve never actually been injured before… and I was wondering what it was like."

Yashamaru looked surprised at the question, but then his expression turned thoughtful. "Hmm… how can I put it?" he wondered. "It´s… very difficult, or… maybe 'upsetting' is what I mean? It´s like… when someone is struck or cut… it´s a feeling that´s very hard to take. When you´re hurt, you don´t feel normal." He chuckled and scratched the back of his head again. "I´m not explaining it very well… Basically, it´s a situation you wanna avoid if at all possible."

Gaara was not getting any happier, especially not now that he found out that he put his only friend in a situation that, as he put it, 'you wanna avoid if at all possible'. He looked away as he asked, "Yashamaru… do you… do you not like me? Like the others?"

Yashamaru gave the redhead a pitying look, but then smiled good-naturedly. "Everyone goes through their lives hurting others, and being hurt," he said, "but it´s not so easy for us to hate one another."

That was just the thing that cheered up the boy. "Thanks a lot, Yashamaru!" he smiled. "That helped. I think I kind of understand what pain is now."

"I see…"

Gaara then looked down again, his smile dimming. "I think I might be hurting, too, just like everyone else," he said, clutching the left side of his chest. "I´m always in pain… I know I´m not bleeding, but lately I´ve felt a lot of pain here."

After a long silence, Yashamaru knelt down before the boy, took the knife away from him, and cut in his right ring finger, much to Gaara´s surprise. "Wound your body and the blood will flow, following fast on the heels of pain," he said. "But as time passes, the pain eventually fades away. With the help of medicine, it can heal even faster." He placed his hand over his heart. "But even more dangerous is a wound dealt to the heart, ´cause there is nothing that has more trouble healing."

"A wound to the heart?" the redhead asked.

"Wounds to the heart are a little different from wounds to the flesh. Unlike an injury to the body, there is no medicine for a wounded heart, and sometimes it never heals." Upon seeing the return of Gaara´s frown, he added, "But don´t worry, there is one thing that can mend a broken heart, but it´s a very complicated remedy. It can only be administered to you by another person."

Gaara became curious again. "So then, what am I supposed to do?" he asked.

Yashamaru turned to look at the picture of the woman, and so did the boy. "There is one thing that can heal the heart… only one…" He looked back at the redhead. "It´s love, Gaara."

Gaara looked back also, confused. "Love?" he asked.

"You´ve got it."

The boy was still not enlightened. "But… but how am I supposed to get rid of it? What is it that I have to do to get rid of this pain?"

"Don't you know, Gaara? It has already been given to you." The two turned to look at the picture again. "Love is… a heart´s desire to serve someone precious to you… to watch over them… to care for them… like my sister did for you. There is no question that my older sister always loved you. Shukaku the sand spirit is a living soul bent towards the purpose of war. The sand automatically rushes to protect you, just like the love of a mother. I believe your mother´s will is carried in every grain of that sand." Yashamaru turned to look at his nephew again. "My sister… even after death… wants more than anything to protect you."

Gaara turned to look directly at his uncle. "Yashamaru…"

"What is it, Gaara?"

The young boy gave a smile full of gratitude. "Thank you for all of your help. You know, for stopping me before."

"You´re very welcome," the man smiled, sucking the blood off his finger. "After all, you´re special, Gaara; I hold you very dear to me."

Gaara, in a gesture of gratitude, pulled his uncle´s bleeding finger out of his mouth and sucked it himself. "It tastes like iron…" he commented.


Back in Konoha, Kakashi and Guy were still busy with the invading sound ninjas. Guy´s powerful body and youthful spirit earned him the ability to take out each ninja in one strong hit. Kakashi, meanwhile, used a more deceptive tactic, giving his enemies a false sense of advantage for then afterwards to literally stab them in the back. The masked sensei spotted two more sound ninjas attacking from above, but both of them were quickly taken out by a mighty Leaf Hurricane from his rival.

Landing right next to Kakashi, Guy asked, "Kakashi, how many did you take out?"

"Twenty-two," the masked sensei answered.

The youthful sensei let out a victorious laugh and flashed one of his oh-so famous smiles. "Looks like I win another round, old buddy!" he said as more sound ninjas appeared. "That last one I knocked out was my twenty-third!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Kakashi shrugged, sounding bored.

"I love that too-cool-for-school attitude of yours! That´s why you´re my number one rival!"

With that said, the two were off to beat the stuffing out of more enemies.


Gaara was running down the streets of his village, a smile on his face and a bag in his arms. It was dark out and there was a full moon on the night sky. He arrived at his destination, which was a house, and knocked the door. The one opening it was one of the boys that Gaara had accidentally hurt, whose face paled and eyes widened when he saw the son of the Kazekage.

"Sorry about earlier… I know it must´ve hurt," the redhead apologized, presenting the bag. "I´ve brought you some medicine, if you want."

The boy, however, was not one to forgive and forget. "Get out of here, freak!" he said coldly, slamming the door shut.

Shocked by the incredibly cold rejection, Gaara dropped the bag and slowly left with saddened footsteps. As he walked home, he crossed paths with a drunkard, the latter of the two accidentally bumbling into the former. "Watch were you´re goin´, little brat!" he said, his words slurred from the alcohol that he had been drinking. Only when Gaara turned to look at him with angry eyes did the man pale with horror. "Y-You´re that kid!"

Wrath welled up inside of Gaara. Again… he thought. Those eyes… why? WHY?

Unintentionally, the sand killed the man on the spot, and Gaara just walked onwards, not looking back as people gathered around the scene of murder. As he walked on, he saw a man looking down at him with a stern look. He resembled Gaara, except he had auburn hair, no markings around his black eyes, and was dressed in a simple black jacket and pants with mesh armor underneath. That man was none other than the Fourth Kazekage.

Gaara felt depressed by the look that his father gave him. He went back to his home and up on the roof, looking at the village with tearful eyes. I was right… he thought. No one loves me… He looked down at his hands. Why? Why do I have to be such a freak? What… am I? He pressed both hands up against his face, letting out soft sobs.

He jerked his head up when he heard something getting blocked by his sand. He turned around and saw, with frightful eyes, one of the hidden sand village´s ninjas, all dressed up in battle gear and wearing a turban and a veil to hide his identity. Around him were a dozen of kunai, each of them levitating in the air due to the assassin´s Jutsu.

Gaara´s fear and shock turned into wrath and bloodlust. Why? Why me? Why is it always me?

The man sent his kunai towards the redhead, who blocked with his sand and caught the assailant with more of it, covering all of him except for the head. Using his Sand Burial attack, Gaara closed his hand, and in the man´s body from the neck down, every bone were shattered. The sand disappeared and let the body fall down on his back.

Fear returning to him, Gaara asked, "Who are you? What do you want?"

That was when he noticed something on the man´s body that made a lump appear in his throat: a bandage around the right ring finger. Swallowing hard, he walked up to the man and slowly reached down to pull the veil off, very afraid of what he was about to see. He pulled the cloth off, and true to his fear and anxiety, what appeared underneath it was the face of his beloved uncle, all stained with his own blood.

"You did well, Gaara… you did very well…" Yashamaru said.

Gaara could not handle this. Pain erupted like a volcano from his heart and head, and all he could do was to let out a scream.


Gaara recovered from his headache and glared daggers at Naruto, who saw the viciousness in the redhead´s eyes. "What´s the matter?" the son of the Kazekage asked. "Weren´t you about to make a run for it?" He looked at the other members of Team 7. "Who are these two? Who are they to you?"

The orange-clad boy stood his ground as he gained resolution. "Who are they to me? They´re my friends is who they are!" he answered angrily. "You try as much as laying a finger on the two of them, and I will pulverize you!"

Angered and tempted, the redhead laid more pressure on his left arm, causing Sakura to let out a scream of pain. He watched as Naruto just stood there, shocked. "What´s the matter?" he asked. "Weren´t you gonna pulverize me? Well, come on, then!"

"You´re on!" Naruto yelled as he leapt into combat. He tried to throw a punch, but Gaara´s tail smacked him back into the branch that he leapt from. He stood back up and swore, "I´m gonna save my friends! It´s all up to me!"

Responding to this, Gaara let out a crazy laughter. "And that´s exactly why you can´t win!" he said. "As long as you fight for the sake of others, you´ll never advance me on this level! Only one can remain undefeated, and only he will feel what it´s like to truly exist! Forget your friends and fight for yourself!"

Naruto gritted his teeth. "You´re insane…" he said. "Forget my friends?"

"The trivial feelings like friendship and loyalty clouds your focus and you´ll die!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking while you can," Naruto replied "´cause I´m about to shut you up once and for all!"

Another headache gave the redhead more pain.


Gaara was crying, his heart aching from both knowing that his own uncle, his only friend, had attempted to murder him and from seeing him in pain. Amongst his agonizing sobs, he managed to press out a question: "Why? Yashamaru… why did you do it? I don´t understand… Tell me why…" He wiped his eyes with the back of his right hand. "I thought… Yashamaru… if I´m precious to you… how could you?"

Yashamaru looked up at the dark sky. "…It was an order…" he answered. "You see, I was ordered… to kill you, Gaara… by Lord Kazekage… your father."

Gaara´s eyes widened in shock and he almost puked. "My father…?" he asked as more tears flowed down his cheeks and onto the rooftop. "Why would… my father…?"

"You were born with the Shukaku, a living sand spirit, inside you." Yashamaru coughed up a little blood. "All these years, you´ve been watched and studied, as part of a great experiment. It became clear that you can never control it… the Shukaku that possesses the power of the sand itself. The day is coming where your existence will be too dangerous for the village… it had to be done before then."

A slight breath of relief washed over Gaara. "You… you had to obey my father…" he figured. "You didn´t have any choice…"

The bleeding man sighed deeply. "You´re wrong… I had a choice."

All hope that the redhead had was flushed down the toilet when he heard those words.

"Yes… Lord Kazekage made his wishes known to me… but… I could´ve refused if I had chosen to. I suppose it´s because… deep in my heart… I hate you, Gaara. I´ve always hated you. My sister died bringing you into this world… I can´t forgive you for that. I told myself that you were all that was left for her… and since I loved her… I should love you. I tried… but I never could. It wasn´t her choice to have you… to be made a human sacrifice… and so she died, cursing this village. The day she died, I felt a wound in my heart that would never heal…"

He looked directly at his nephew. "Your name is… the one your mother gave you. Your name is Gaara… a demon who loves only itself... as you must love no one else. Care for no one´s existence but your own… fight only for yourself… In that way, you´ll be sure to survive. This is the dying gift your mother left you… but not out of maternal affection. It was not from love that she gave you your name… it was from her undying rage at this village… It was part of her curse… that you should survive and grow. Her hate lives on in you. You were never loved, Gaara. Never."

Yashamaru opened his jacket, revealing hundreds of paper bombs! "This is it," he said as the explosives were lit. "Please die."

And with that said, Yashamaru blew up in a massive explosion. But the suicide bombing was futile, however, as Gaara´s sand formed a shield around its master to protect him. Gaara fell down on his knees as his mind struggled to comprehend the scenario. The only one who had ever treated him like a human being had just proved that he was lying all this time. And it caused the redhead to disbelieve all that Yashamaru had told him about pain and love… especially the part where he told him about how the sand represented his mother´s love for him.

And that was when his mind shattered.

Fueled by hatred and contempt for every single human being in the world, Gaara forced the sand to attack the left side of his forehead. He screamed out in pain and anger as the sand carved in the kanji for 'love' on his forehead, forever reminding him of what he fights for and feels for. That was when he finally understood the perspective of everyone else whenever they saw him.

So that´s Gaara… me… I understand now. I´m alone… I no longer care about anyone… or love anyone else. I´m alone… I´m all alone… I am all that matters.


"What´s the matter?" Gaara asked. "Why don´t you attack? Don´t you care what happens to your precious friends?" He squeezed down some more on Sakura, causing her to let out another scream.

"Let her go!" Naruto yelled. He was struggling with what to do. Right now, what he needed to do was both get his two teammates to safety and somehow stop the redhead from causing further damage. But doing this alone would prove to be an impossible task. He needed help.

And that was when an idea crossed his mind. This is gonna use up a hell of a lot of chakra, but… he thought, making hand-seals. It´s time to bring in the Chief Toad! Biting a hole in his thumb and pressing his right hand against the branch, he used the Summoning Jutsu…

…and brought out a normal-sized orange toad with purple markings all over his body and wearing a tiny vest. "What is it?" it asked, annoyed. "What do you want, kid? Well, whatever it is, I hope you brought along some treats. ´Cause if you think I´m doing anything for nothing, you´re wroooooong!"

Naruto was certainly not in the mood for jokes right now. "Oh, gimme a break!" he shouted in annoyance. "I´m really starting to hate you stinking frogs!"

"Oh-ho-ho! An anti-amphibian, huh?" the toad said. "Well, take that, you big bigot!" He stuck out his long tongue childishly.

"Listen, I don´t have time to play games with you, you slimy little squirt!"

Gaara laughed as the sand covered more and more of his body. "Worried about the others? That´s your big mistake!" he said. "When I fight, I fight for me and me alone!"

The sand now covered most of the redhead, except for his hair and legs. His left hand detached itself from the rest of the arm, and a new one grew in its place! "Only by attacking and defeating me can you free her!" he said. "And you should hurry! For each passing second, the sand will harden, until it crushes her to death!"

Temari was watching the battle and her transforming brother from afar. He´s getting closer and closer to a total possession… she thought. And if that happens, none of us will survive!

"Sand Shuriken!" Gaara shouted and swung both of his arms, sending many clumps of hardened sand towards Naruto at such an amazing velocity that getting hit would probably pierce through the target.

Naruto quickly picked up the toad and leapt out of harm´s way, but ended up hitting the trunk of a tree and fall down to another branch. "Wow… boy are you pathetic," the amphibian commented. "So, who the heck is this freak, anyway?"

Naruto looked long and hard at Gaara. He could easily see it in his eyes… loneliness. The same loneliness that Naruto felt most of his life. Everyone hated him, and he never knew why… until it was revealed to him that he has the Kyubi inside of him. Even though it was never his fault, everyone treated him like it was the one who caused pain and misery. But there was one thing that differed Naruto from Gaara: friends. If it had not been for Iruka, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Torabu, Sairento and Konran, he would probably have ended up just like the redhead.

The pained sounds coming from his pink-haired friend snapped the orange-clad boy out of his thoughts. "What´s the matter?" Gaara asked. "Are you afraid of me? Or are you still thinking of the best way to save your friends? Fool! Forget them! Think only of yourself! Love only yourself! That is what it means to be the strongest!" He bared his claws, ready to kill. "What´s wrong? You were so bold and cocky before! Show me your strength! Let me grind it into dust before your eyes! Attack, you coward! Fight me, or I´ll kill the girl right now!"

"Okay, you asked for it!" Naruto roared and leapt towards his opponent. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Crying out the name of the technique, he summoned a dozen of clones.

Gaara inhaled a lot of air through not only the mouth on his head, but also through several mouths that appeared all over his body! "Wind Style: Sandstorm Devastation!" he roared and blew a powerful burst of wind at Naruto and his clones, destroying every one of them and pushing the original into a tree. "I think I´ll toy with you for a while! I´ll watch you abandon your friends and beg for mercy before you die!"

Gaara then pummeled his opponent with a barrage of Sand Shuriken, knocking the orange-clad ninja back further and further until he crashed into a tree. At that point, Naruto felt a strange feeling inside of him, and then felt a rush of determination. He recovered from the attack and swore, "I must win this fight, even if it might kill me!"


dopliss: Next update will be the final update for a while.

Mizuki: Because you´re going back to school! (laughs his ass off)

dopliss: You really hate me, don´t you?