A year ago.

"The two of you did quite well."

Rasa complemented with his usual expression but he is still quite glad at the accomplishment of his children. Their spar lasted for a long time, Temari and Kankuro who still could not compare to their father in both experience and stamina were defeated.

They heaved up and down to catch their breath while popping a small round pill into their mouths and visibly recovering from their fatigued state it is a pill made by Gaara who planned to make a watered down version of it available in the market in the near future.

"We still have much to learn. Thank you for your guidance father."

Kankuro announced with a slight bow, Temari who is beside him only nodding in affirmation. He stood up and stored his puppets in a sealed scroll.

'Those things...'

Rasa thought back to their sparring match. These puppets are not like the conventional ones, Kankuro started by manipulating these puppets himself with chakra threads but as the battle went on, these puppets started to move on their own without the need for chakra threads. They can only autonomously attack for a few minutes in this mode before slumping down like a sack of potatoes.

"Did you make those puppets Kankuro?"

Rasa finally couldn't hold his curiosity and asked.

"Yes father, Gaara gave me some inspiration and helped me design these new puppets, also Gaara made the seals for these things to store chakra and move without the use of chakra strings."

Kankuro became slightly flushed after his explanation. He didn't have the weird get up he wore in canon and instead wore a mask that covered his nose and mouth like that of Kakashi Hatake so his face can't be seen but upon thinking about it, this puppet is mostly made by Gaara.

'At least most of the raw materials came from my allowance, tsk too damn troublesome.' Gaara kept telling him to integrate the use of poison along with his already vast field of arsenal.

Rasa nodded his head in understanding.

"There's much to improve on, but I assume you are already working on it. It is commendable that you've picked up on Kenjutsu and ninjutsu along with the puppet fighting style, if you can improve your mastery to at least chunin level in your ninjutsu you'll be a troublesome foe to beat even for a veteran jounin in a one on one scenario"

'and if you use poison along with that, you'd be feared in the battlefield.' he inwardly added.

'Kenjutsu tsk'

Kankuro flinched. He never really liked to personally use the blade and engage in melee with his opponents but Gaara's convincing argument broke his weak ass will to not engage, thus Gaara gained a sparring partner while Kankuro learned very fast due to pressure.

"I will keep it in mind father."

Kankuro bowed his head like any good ninja would do as he was praised by the Kazekage. Inside, he is glad to be praised by this man who he hated and looked up to.

"The same goes for you Temari. Your Kenjutsu and ninjutsu combo is far stronger than Kankuro's but you are too hasty to attack and ends up making mistakes due to your clouded judgement. Your wind release techniques could use some working on but I can already see the birth of an A or even an S class jutsu once you have fully mastered it."

Rasa wasn't skimping on giving his opinion and praises, he won yes, but the cuts he received from Temari and the pain from the metal reinforced fist of the puppets are a reminder that he could have lost if not for his chakra volume and advanced fighting experience. A few more years and he'd lose in a 2v1, which he plan to avoid at all costs.

"Thank you for your guidance."

'Its not like Gaara won't be telling us about it with detailed insight but meh... what do I cook for dinner?'

Temari showed courtesy with a bow before watching Rasa vanish. He had to if the kazekage took a step then he would have to limp, so he chose not to embarrass himself in front of his kids, especially after giving his speech.

He smiled despite the pain, after all he gained yet another two great prospects for his future plans.

'I haven't seen Gaara the whole day. tsk He must be in his secret laboratory again.'

••••••

A hooded figure stood somewhere between the boundary of sunagakure and konohagakure. His head is hidden by a grey helm only showing his eyes. He moved like a ghost, the print of his boot in the sand vanished without a trace, no sounds came from his steps. If one is not directly looking at his figure then it would be extremely hard to detect his presence.

"In and out. Let's do this. To think I'd have to visit konoha before securing the ruins and the mines."

The figure jumped and melded with the trees.

After failing the graduation exam Mitzuki goaded the class clown Naruto into stealing the scroll of seals. Who in turn saw the silver lining into proving himself to the village that hated him for reasons he did not understand and becoming the hokage out of sheer innocence or fantasy or just some kiddy plot to gain attention and be accepted. One of those, maybe two.

The said scroll which contained the most dangerous of forbidden jutsus deemed too dangerous by the first and the succeeding hokages on the other hand is practically lying around unguarded in the hokage building having been stolen multiple times already.

Still Mitzuki the perpetrator of this whole debacle didn't really expect for the little runt to succeed in his 'mission' but lo and behold Naruto miraculously did it.

One sexy jutsu is all it took for an undergrad prankster to snatch the 'heavily guarded' scroll from the hands of the most powerful ninja in the hidden leaf village.

Honestly, the only ones more stupid than these shinobi are the wizards of world where a certain scarred baby became a hero after defeating the dark lord.

Seeing that the opportunity has come to an arms reach, Mitzuki ran around the village spreading the news informing teachers and other ninja of Naruto's new accomplishment into becoming his scapegoat.

On the other hand, Naruto who isn't actually hiding opened the scroll and began reading it. The kid didn't bother to read everything and decided to learn multiple shadow clone jutsu, the very first technique he saw in the scroll, though he remembered how he sucked at his academy level bunshin technique he bit the bullet and read on.

"Kagebunshin no jutsu!"

The chuuni yelled everytime he tried to make clones. In under half an hour, the little runt started to show great progress.

'Having the protagonist halo is too OP.'

Once Naruto gained initial mastery however, a shadow appeared behind him and knocked him out with a chop to the back of his head. It was chakra infused too knowing the nature and constitution of the nine tails jinjuriki.

"Well that was easy."

The figure stored the scroll of seals in a leather container that shrunk when sealed to get a bigger head start in his escape plan, a replica took its place.

"Sorry mate, I'm sure you'll make it out of this mess somehow."

After fixing Naruto into a more comfortable position the figure then disappeared without a trace.

In all honesty, Gaara expected to have to face a number of konoha shinobi. He was even prepared to kill those he encountered if he had to but it seems like the long time of peace dulled the senses of the supposed strongest village.

In and out just like he initially planned.