A week before the Chunnin exams:-

Sabaku no Gaara, Gaara was the third jinchurikki of Ichibi and the youngest of his siblings. He was the second son of Rasa, the fourth Kazekage. His mother died a few moments later after she birthed him, she named him Gaara before her unfortunate demise.

Because of heavy cuts to Sunagakure's budget, the Fourth Kazekage wanted to make one of his children the jinchūriki of the One-Tailed Shukaku to serve as a weapon for the village. His first two children, Temari and Kankurō, had not been compatible with Shukaku. Rasa's third child who would become Gaara, was compatible and Shukaku was sealed into him by Chiyo while he was still in his mother's womb. Gaara ended up being born prematurely, and from the ordeals of childbirth his mother Karura died. Before dying, Karura vowed to always protect Gaara.

Gaara was raised in isolation during his early life, taught ninjutsu by his father and cared for by his maternal uncle, Yashamaru. When he was allowed to roam around the village, Gaara would try to connect with the villagers, being kind to them and offering them any assistance he could. However, being a jinchūriki made the villagers frightened of Gaara. Adults avoided him and when they couldn't, they treated him delicately while children would runoff from him on sight. Gaara would try to assure them that he meant no harm, but in the process would unknowingly injure or even kill them with his sand.

Gaara did not understood the pain that he caused to others because his sand protected him from all injury. When he was six years old, Gaara asked Yashamaru to explain pain to him. From Yashamaru's explanation, Gaara believed he did know pain i.e. the unbearable agony in his heart.

Yashamaru elaborated that physical pain, what causes one to bleed, could be cured with medicine and time. Whereas pain of the heart, like Gaara experienced, could only be cured with love. Yashamaru told him that he was loved both by his mother and Yashamaru himself. Gaara was pleased by this and went out into the village to show some love to those he'd harmed, but his efforts were met only with more fear and hate. Gaara was dismayed and went off to try and understand why he was treated as such a monster. While doing so, he was attacked by one of Suna's Anbu, whom he fatally wounded with his sand. When he unmasked the Anbu, Gaara discovered it was Yashamaru.

Gaara was devastated that Yashamaru, the only living person to love him, would try to kill him and asked for an explanation. Yashamaru explained that it was a mission given to him by Rasa, Gaara's father, it having been decided by the Suna Council that Gaara was a failed experiment that, if allowed to live, would only continue to do harm to the village and its people.

Gaara tried to find solace in the fact that Yashamaru had been ordered to kill him, but Yashamaru lied to Gaara that he volunteered and that he'd always hated Gaara for causing Karura's death. Karura had not loved Gaara either, and he would be a curse upon Suna for what it had done to her. With his explanation done, Yashamaru pleaded to Gaara to die before blowing himself up with explosive tags.

Gaara's sand shielded Gaara from the blast. Having lost everything he cared for, Gaara decided that he would from that point forward live up to his namesake by loving only himself. To that end that he used his own sand to etch the kanji for "love" onto the left side of his forehead. Overwhelmed with grief, Gaara transformed into Shukaku and attacked Suna. Rasa would arrange five other assassination attempts on Gaara over the following years, but he survived all of them.

Gaara now lives alone, apart from his siblings and so called father, he had never considered him worthy enough to be his father and he never will. Gaara was a genin now, he was on a team with his siblings as no-one else would accept him as their teammate.

Nevertheless, he was far more focused on protecting himself to notice the underlying care in the eyes of Temari. Temari didn't hated Gaara, they were forcefully kept aside from Gaara. From the lack of love Gaara had turned into a mindless murderer, the situation was this worse due to her father's greed for power.

Gaara was perched up on the roof of one of the tallest building in Sunagakure, his eyes drifted toward moon. The white ball of light, it was his constant companion throughout his sleepless nights.

The Ichibi had restricted him from sleeping, if he dared to sleep the bijuu will take control of his body and cause destruction. He wasn't even a bit worried about destruction, he didn't have to save anyone but himself, but he couldn't let the bijuu take control as prolonged exchange with Ichibi caused him severe headaches.

Suddenly he sensed a figure behind him , he turned around to see, his father dressed in Kazekage robe standing behind him looking at him with unhidden disguise.

"I have a mission for you, You're to go to the leaf village to take part in upcoming Chunin exam and ...

Last two weeks were hectic for team 7, they had completed 2 C ranks and 1 B rank missions back to back, Kakashi hadn't let them rest for more than 2 days a week.

One C-Ranked mission was a simple border patrol duty, while the other one was extermination of 20 bandits on the north of Fire country. The B-ranked mission wasn't that serious either, the trader whom they had to escort to capital was just a bit more paranoid for his goods.

It was the first day of the last week prior to Chunin exams, The sun was on top of the Village shining brightly. Naruto was strolling through village after completing his daily training for the day.

He was just moving around the village, Shikamaru and his other friends, even Sasuke, were busy in their trainings. Sarutobi had suspended their training for now as he had to make sure that the preparation of Chunin exams were going smoothly, He had completed his self-training and his training with Kakashi and his teammates for today.

He was crossing by one of the training grounds when he heard the sound of someone training inside, the voice was a bit on familiar side, losing to his curiosity and boredom he went inside to observe them train.

Hinata Hyuga was training was trianing inside the ground, she was wearing a black training kimono with pink outlines. Hinata was striking a pole with her full force, resulting in scraffs in the pole. Her hairs in high ponytail at back and her face as elegant as ever.

Hinata was practicing her taijutsu katas, she was using her hands in form of claws rather than palm to strike the poles. Planning to surprise her, he silently moved toward her. She had her eyes closed for practice and her Byakugan deactivated, Naruto moved near the pole she was practicing.

He peeked from behind the pole as she was about to hit it; "Hey Hinata, What's up?"

Hinata stopped her onslaught in mid, a little surprised by sudden voice, but she knew the owner of this voice. She opened her eyes to see that her hands were mere inches away from Naruto's face, he peeked from behind it and smiled his best.

"N- Naruto kun!" was the only words that came out of Hinata mouth before she stumbled back, and tripped on her own foot. She landed on the ground with a thud, this wasn't definitely what she was trying to do.

"Ah...Hinata, I am sorry. Did I scared you? I just wanted to surprise you" said Naruto rubbing the back of his head. He gave her a hand to stand-up, she blushed a little at the contact but stood up nonetheless.

"No, I just thought that my h-hand hit you" said Hinata while poking her index finger together.

"Wow, you're stuttering has decreased allot" complimented Naruto.

"Really?" question Hinata in response.

Naruto nodded his head in response, "Yep! So, Have you completed your trianing?"

"No, I'll t-train for another one or t-two hours. Why?" asked Hinata.

"If you don't have any problem, may I join you? All of my friends are busy in their trainings, I don't have anything else to do and beside its look cool" asked Naruto smiling.

"Y-Yeah sure, I would like it if you'll join. Besides, I w-wanted to try out my new weapon against another weapon" said Hinata.

"You're new weapon?" questioned Naruto surprisingly.

"Yeah, I have got them a week ago" replied Hinata.

Naruto nodded his head and tapped on one of the seal on his wrist, the seal was newly inscribed storage seal for his bo, his bo appeared beside him and he grabbed it.

Hinata went back toward the tree where she had left her bag, she tied a belt around her waist. The belt had two pouches in it that held two daggers, due her focus toward close ranged taijutsu she had chose two medium sized daggers as her weapon.

The blade of daggers were silvery-white and curved at the end, while the handles were dark blue in colour and had tigers head at end. The tiger symbolizes Strong willpower, courage and generosity, and Hinata wanted to become like them.

Hinata and Naruto stood afront eachother, contemplating on who would make the first move. Hinata made the first move and dashed toward Naruto, adjusting her hold on dagger in reverse grip. An upward swipe was the first attack of Hinata, Naruto moved aback, the second attack came in a sideline swipe, Naruto again moved aback to dodge it.

Hinata ducked a little and swiped her daggers toward Naruto's stomach, Naruto just brought his bo in front to stop the attack in its movement. Hinata again tried an uppercut toward Naruto's face, Naruto rotated his bo a little and deflected the daggers strike. The bo was a long to medium range weapon, Naruto had to handle it carefully to avoid any mistake in close range fights.

Hinata jumped a back, Naruto's defence with the bo was amazing, no extra rotation or movement than required. She had been only training for past two weeks with her daggers, she wasn't able to completely sync her taijutsu with her daggers till now.

While, Naruto was able to see why other shinobis were advised not to engage with a Hyuga in close combat, Hinata's strike were accurate and to the point. She had allot of room to cover before she would be able to fully counter his bo-Jutsu, but still she had potential to do that. Her close combat prowess were at par with Uchiha Sasuke, it was just as her reluctance to harm others had held her back for so long.

This time he moved forward aiming his bo toward her solar flex, she deflected the bo with a strike of her dagger, the bo went upward and she moved to slash Naruto's stomach.

~Clench~

~Poof~

The dagger contacted with Naruto's skin but he went into a puff of smoke, Hinata activated her Byakugan and could see the chakra dispersed from the clone, a Ninjutsu. Naruto hadn't displayed his shadow clones publically, and neither had Hinata seen them before. He appeared behind Hinata, it was only due to her reflexes, that she developed while sparring with Hizashi, that she dodged downward attack of Naruto. He smirked and moved toward her, sparring with people of his own age was more fun than sparring with senior shinobis.

And they both went on to spar for rest of the afternoon, what they failed to notice was that two pairs of white eyes were following each of their movements.

It was late evening when both of them stopped their spar, Naruto sealed his bo back inside his sealing tatto. Hinata too took off her belt and packed it inside the bag.

Hinata's face was shining due to the sweat that formed on it during the training, her hairs a little messed, sweat rolling from side of her pink waxen cheeks traveling toward her neck.

She huffed out a little after taking sip of water, the droplets stagnant on her rosy malleable lips, sweat trickling down her neck. She didn't had much of baby fat on her face due to constant training, pearly big eyes stealing glances toward Naruto. She adjusted a strand of hair that fell out to the back of her ears, and looked up toward Naruto.

'Beautiful' was the only thing that Naruto could think, his mouth was agape and he was staring toward Hinata. He suddenly felt heat rising toward his cheeks, his cheeks took a crimson shine.

Sound of someone clearing their throat disrupted his chain thoughts, his eyes quickly drifted toward ths source of sound. A man wearing black kimono was standing there, looking toward them with neutral expression.

"Good evening Oji-san" said Hinata.

"Good evening Hizashi-san" said Naruto. He had been taught about the clans that resides in Konoha, Hyuga clan was one of them, he knew that Hinata's father had a twin brother.

Hizashi Hyuga, also know as Fast palm Hizashi, He was the fastest hand to hand close combatant in entire Hyuga clan. He was only shadowed by his brother Hiashi, Hiashi Hyuga was the current head of Hyuga clan, also known as Iron Fist Hiashi. In contrast to his brother, Hiashi was the strongest hand to hand close combatant in Hyuga clan. They together formed "Perfect defence of Hyuga clan", in last war both of them were said to be perfect defenses for konoha ninjas.

"Good evening, Uzumaki-san. It's nice to see that Hinata has some good friends who cares for her, and help her in training" said Hizashi.

"It's nothing too special, there's a famous saying that friends should always strive to make each other great" said Naruto, in reality he had heard that saying from Hiruzen. He was oblivious to such norms, Anko, Kakashi or even Jiriaya never focused on teaching him these norms. Hiruzen had taked up the duty to teach him some norms, discipline, politics, history and understanding of diplomatic conversations.

"It's quite late for training, you had to return home till 4, you're two hours late" stated Hizashi.

"I am sorry Oji-san, the training was intense and I didn't noticed the time it took" said Hinata.

"Okay, Now let's go. Don't make this a habit, you know how much your father values time" replied Hizashi.

Hinata nodded and turned towars Naruto and said; "It w-was fun sparring with y-you Naruto-kun, if you want to spar, you c-could always find me in this ground in a-afternoon"

Naruto smiled and nodded his head, he would surely like to meet Hinata again, for spar of course.

Hinata moved with Hizashi out of the training ground, Naruto moved toward his house while whistling a tune.

He was halfway toward his house when he saw Shizune trying to carry 8 bags together, trying being the keyword, the bags kept falling constantly. He moved toward her and took 4 of her bags; "You should have asked for help Shizune-nee"

Shizune just smiled in reply, she moved toward the Senju manor and Naruto followed her.

They reached the manor, the house was not even half the size of Hyuga manor. It had been used to accommodate only the families of Shodai and Nindaime Hokage, the rest of senjus lived in an another manor, that was transformed into orphanage after decimation of Senju clan in first shinobi war.

They moved inside the house, it was beautiful house. The walls were brown in colour while the roof was black, it was a two story building with a backward. The backyard had a pond in it, the house had atleast 36 rooms in it; 20 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 3 living room, 2 kitchens, 3 storerooms, 2 libraries and one training room.

They entered the kitchen at the ground floor, he dropped the supplies on the table.

"Thank you Naruto-kun, You proved to be a great help for me" said Shizune.

"Don't mention it Shizune-nee, I just saw you struggling with supplies, So I helped you" Naruto expressed while smiling.

"You seems to be returning from a training session, sit down, I will brew a refreshing juice for you" said Shizune and motioned him to sit.

Ten minutes later, Shizune sat beside him handing him a glass of freshly brewed juice. He started drinking the juice periodically, the juice was refreshing and tasty.

Before he could finish his juice, Tsunade entered the kitchen, she had several files tucked under her arms. Her face brightened after seeing Naruto at the kitchen table drinking a juice, she put down the files on one side of the table and went on to sit beside him after ruffling his hair.

She downed a glass of juice for herself, she had to discuss somethings with Naruto, As he was constantly on missions for last two weeks she was unable to find him.

"I haven't been able to find you for last two weeks Brat, you would tell me before you on missions from now on" Said Tsuande in a tone that suggested no arguments, Naruto just nodded his head, another person after Anko who he had to tell before he goes on missions.

"Now, I wanted to tell you that you are going to move into this house from that lonely building. I wasn't able to raise you due to certain circumstances, but as I have returned to the village, you will not live alone from now on" stated Tsunade in a firm voice.

Naruto looked toward with an expression akin to adoration, the same feeling as before was dwelling inside him, he had always wanted to live in a house filled with his loved ones. Kakashi and Anko regularly slept at his house, it wasn't like he was all alone there. Still sometimes when he would return to the house, if both Kakashi and Anko were on missions, silence and loneliness would welcome him.

He nodded his head and said; "I would like that Baa-chan, but I have one condition. You'll allow Ero-Ojii, Kakashi nii-san and Anko nee-chan to visit me anytime" said Naruto.

"Anko is allowed till she wears decent clothes around here, Kakashi is also allowed as he forsake his books while he's here and as for Jiraiya, I would beat him to pulp if I find him doing any misdeed around my house, apart from that he's also allowed" said Tsunade.

"Awesome, I will move in tomorrow morning. I will take the help of my friends to seal my furniture and other things and then move here" contemplated Naruto.

"Very good, you will take the second room to the left from my room. It has a bathroom attached to it, and you're also to follow some house rules; First, You're to tell me whenever you go on a mission. Second, You will only cook food in either my or Shizune's supervision, I don't want my house to burn down" said Tsunade.

"Hey! I know how to cook" replied Naruto and went on to bicker with Tsunade.

He returned to his house in late evening to see Anko sprawled across a Futon inside one of the bedrooms, he moved inside the room to cover her with a blanket and went on to sleep in his room. He never saw Anko opening one of her eyes and smiling fondly at his back.

The next morning he gathered all his friends; Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Haku, Sakura and a reluctant Sasuke joined him. He handed them sealing scrolls and instructed them on how to seal the items inside it, it took them two hours but the house was clean at last.

They sealed all the items separately and marked them to avoid confusion, they moved on toward the Senju manor. They reached there after half an hour or so, they moved inside the manor and entered Naruto's room.

The room had wooden flooring and walls, the roof was white in colour while a light hungs down from it. Tsunade had left for hospital as she had some early appointments, Shizune had welcomed them inside the house. She only performed surgeries, as Tsunade guided her through all of them and there were no surgeries today.

They started laying down scrolls at instructed places in the room to unseal furniture or items from it, They had benefited from today's class in sealing from Naruto. As they now would be able to seal their supplies on missions, that would increase their pace in missions. Although, Sasuke and Sakura had already learnt a little bit of sealing few days ago from him, Naruto had taught them to seal their supplies. He had also inscribed seals on their arms for their respective weapons, Naruto was developing his fuinjutsu skills at an alarming rate, and Jiraiya suspected it was due to his Uzumaki genes.

It took them another hour and half to unseal all of the furniture and items, Kakashi and Anko were already informed by Naruto about his change of residence. They didn't have much of an issue, they have received the permission to enter the house till they abide a few rules.

Shizune entered the room to check on them, as they had completed their unsealing and arranging items, she instructed them to go in the backyard and went on to extract juices out of some fruits. The sun was up high in the sky when they came out in the backyard, and the clock ticked at 1 o'clock.

Meanwhile, Tsunade had completed her morning shift and was returning to the house for a little rest. She entered the house and moved in toward the living house that was connected to backyard, she entered the room to see two girls sitting on the perch facing the backyard. She moved toward the backyard to see Naruto, a boy with pony-tail and a chubby boy were sitting under the tree conversing among eachother. On the other side near the pond two boys, one with inuzuka clan markings and another boy with black hair and Uchiha clan symbols on back of his Haori, were bickering amongst eachother.

Tsunade had seen the black-haired girl, she was one of shinobis learning about medications and poisons from herbs in hospital. Naruto's eyes landed on her and he bolted up, seeing him bolting all the attention shifted to him, he paced toward her.

"Baa-chan, I have moved all my furnitures and supplies here" said Naruto enthusiastically.

Hearing the word Baa-chan from Naruto's mouth, everyone's attention turned toward Tsunade. Sakura stood up frantically, her idol and one of best medic ninja in elemental nation was standing infront of them.

"Baa-chan?" asked Shikamaru confusingly, he had been told by his father that Naruto's father and mother had died on the night of Kyubi attack and he didn't had grandparents.

"Well..Yeah, she is my Godmother, but as she is too old I call her Baa-chan" said Naruto chirply.

~Bonk~

"I am not old brat, watch you're mouth" said Tsuande after bonking him on head, She moved on to sit near the table in the room.

"Ow...Hey! why did you hit me, I didn't say anything wrong" said Naruto indiligently.

Everyone just sweatdropped, you should always choose Naruto to nickname legendaries shinobi, and he wouldn't surprise you. For him; The great toad sage Jiraiya was 'Ero-Oji', The slug princess Tsunade was 'Baa-chan' and The kami no shinobi Sandaime Hokage was 'Jiji', and none of them seems to dislike it.

"You're related to Tsunade-Sama and you didn't even told us" argued Sakura.

"Even I came to know about this on my last mission with Ero-Ojii" replied Naruto.

Before conversation could move forward Shizune entered the room with a tray, she gave each one a glass of juice and went on to sit beside Tsunade.

Everyone just forgot about the conversation and moved on to drink their juice, but Sakura's eyes were stealing glances toward Tsunade.

Somewhere in the Elemental nation:-

"The time has come, I will personally travel to Leaf village" said one shadow.

"I will try my best to support you, but don't forget my terms" replied another figure.

"Indeed" said the first figure and walked away

Kumogakure: Raikage office;

"Darui you wil lead two teams to Konoha for upcoming Chunin exams" said the Yondaime Raikage A.

"The exams are to be held in Konoha, would it be right to send our shinobis there?" asked Darui a little worried

"I can't let my father's action stain Kumogakure status, send our best teams to Konoha" ordered A.

Darui nodded his head and went out of the room.

The Grass Country:-

"You're going to participate in the upcoming Chunin exam in Konoha with a team, Don't disappoint the village" said One old figure.

'You Idiot, do you think i would return to this hell-hole? Never, I will be free', were the hidden thoughts of the girl, but she didn't let it flow through her mouth.

"I will not disappoint the village, Leader Sama" bowed the girl and moved out of the room, Her freedom was just a week away from her.

Every Jonin, Anbu and Chunin had gathered up in the hokage tower, they moved in one of the large halls. Hokage entered the hall with his two advisors and Danzo tailing behind him, He went on to stand infront of them.

"Jonins, Anbu and Chunins, I am here to announce that the Chunin exams will commence from the next week. Any jonin sensei wishing to let their genins partake in exam should submit the signed form till the last day of this week" announced Hiruzen.

"Furthermore, the security around the village will be increased, none of the jonins are allowed to slack off in jonin station. If you're free, patrol around the village and ensure that the security is up-tight, keep an eye on foreign shinobis" added the aged leader, He put down several Chunin participation forms on the table Infront of him.

Jonins took up required forms for their team. Asuma, Kurenai and Kakashi also picked up required form for their team, but the main surprise came when Danzo also picked three of forms.

Sarutobi didn't mind this as the team under Danzo was known to him, he had given Danzo the permission to teach three students in ninja arts.

Certain things wouldn't be like they were after this Chunin exams, the events would lead in the rise of some 'Legends'. It was the time for the new generation to shine...

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, All rights are reserved to Kishimoto.