You could just kill her now and not have to deal with any of this…

Gaara had heard the voice of Shukaku in his head since he could remember. Gaara had been listening to the voice of Shukaku since he was barely a child. Now that he had made the active decision to ignore the voice of the beast in his mind, Shukaku had become more difficult to manage than ever before. It was as if the beast had taken personal offense to Gaara's purposeful ignorance, which… well, was probably true, but Gaara didn't exactly feel sorry for him.

It was precisely because he'd chosen to ignore Shukaku that he'd ended up in this situation, yes, but right now Gaara wouldn't have changed that for anything. Even though he was about to sneak into a heavily guarded fortress alone, something that would have given most shinobi pause, Gaara had no regrets or hesitations.

He was doing it for Sakura. He was doing it for his friend.

The current problems they faced, Sakura had summed up succinctly, were several things. One was that they were only two people, and they had no idea how big an army Hiroshi had gathered up. Two, they knew nothing about Hiroshi himself, other than that he had to be strong in order to wrangle the entire northern strip of the Wind Country under his control. Three, Sakura was nowhere near skilled enough to keep up with Gaara yet. (Which Gaara was beginning to find a debatable point, but Sakura wouldn't listen to his reasoning on that matter, so he'd let the issue drop.)

Two of these problems could be approached with a simple reconnaissance mission. The choice to send Gaara alone had been an obvious one, though one Sakura had fought bitterly against at first. He was quiet, he had access to spying skills that most would not anticipate, and he had his natural sand defense in case of an emergency. Whomever this Hiroshi was, he would not be expecting a Jinchuuriki to challenge him, and keeping that element of surprise was vital to overcoming him.

So, Gaara would go to the fortress, and Sakura would go to the growing town that had sprung up around the fortress, looking for any sort of dissenters that might aid them in a (hopefully) quick coup. Sakura's current goal was minimizing the loss of life.

Admirable, but stupid. The easiest way to solve this would be to kill the entire fortress army outright. If you're not going to kill the girl, at least kill them.

Gaara feared they wouldn't have a choice in the matter unless Sakura could get enough people to their cause. They were two genin shinobi who were attempting to start a revolution. The odds were slim at best. As Sakura had put it, it was a really stupid idea, with far too many things capable of going wrong.

But the weird thing was, Gaara was starting to like these stupid ideas of hers. He hadn't felt this alive since…

Well.

Regardless, doing this sort of thing on a whim was kind of… Fun. No iron-willed Kazekage to send him on mission after mission, no distrusting siblings to reign him in. He could just do what he wanted, when he wanted.

And now that you can, of course you start to develop a conscience.

Ah, maybe that was why Shukaku was angry. Gaara finally had a taste of freedom and he wasn't killing everything that moved. But Gaara doubted he would have even come along with Sakura if not for his new "conscience" anyhow, so it was a mute point.

You think too much. When the hell are you going to break inside this damn fortress, Gaara?

When the night had fallen and the moon had risen into the sky, Gaara thought in turn. Espionage didn't work best in daylight, and he had plenty of time before Sakura's assigned rendezvous. Plus, hearing Shukaku so annoyed at his lack of action was beginning to get somewhat amusing.

Ah, fuck you, brat.

Gaara smiled.

It was getting easier to smile, he realized. Sakura smiled so often it was beginning to feel contagious. For her, smiling seemed as natural as breathing. Gaara still had to focus to get the motion to work out just right, but Sakura always seemed to smile just a little bit bigger whenever he did, so he must have been doing something correctly.

Ah shit, now you're getting sappy on me. If I ever see that Naruto kid again, I'm gonna kill him for making me listen to this.

Naruto…

Sakura had mentioned the boy was out traveling with his mentor. If Gaara had any goal for this trip, it was to see him again, to show Naruto how much he'd changed. To show Naruto his new smile.

Gaara ignored the retching sounds Shukaku had started making at those thoughts and settled into his newly acquired seat. The top of the fortress was made up of flat roofs and towers, which were easy enough for guards to keep watch over. Gaara had simply taken one of the towers for himself. The guard had just come in for his shift when Gaara moved to knock him unconscious.

He… hadn't exactly been delicate. Gaara was fairly certain he hadn't cracked the man's skull, but if he had, well…

He just wouldn't mention it to Sakura.

He'd pulled on some of the guard's armor, in case anyone glanced his way, and had settled into keeping a watch on the area around him. Keeping watch was easy. Since he'd never been able to sleep, that was usually what he'd spent his nights doing anyway. Gaara had mastered a form of awake meditation of sorts, allowing his mind to go blank while letting his senses naturally pick up on anything that might be considered a threat. The closest he'd ever gotten to true sleep.

It was as quiet as a fortress could get. He heard occasional voices and shouts, but nothing out of the ordinary. As far as he could tell, Hiroshi had not yet returned to the fortress for the night, which was even more reason to wait until nightfall. He needed to observe Hiroshi himself, not just the fortress and its defenses.

Gaara took a deep breath and allowed his mind to go blank.

The silence went on and on, the movement below not aberrant enough to draw his eye, until all at once Shukaku spoke again.

You're serious about this, aren't you, brat? Friendship with that girl.

Of course he was, Gaara allowed himself to think. Sakura had said it herself. They were friends. Nothing more to it.

There's everything more to it. She could be manipulating you into helping her. She clearly needs the protection, and who better than us? She wouldn't last a day out here on her own, but with you…

Gaara grew angry before he could process the emotion. Shukaku was just goading him, yes, but Gaara had long grown tired of the beast's cynicism. He opened his eyes, about to think very loudly just what he thought of Shukaku's comments…

But he wasn't at the fortress.

The area around him was dark and fogged. Black sand packed the ground beneath his feet, and there was a distant sound of wind and…

Bells?

Gaara looked around, somewhat panicked now. Had he been moved somewhere by some jutsu? Impossible, he thought, there was no way anyone could have overtaken him so easily, especially not with his protective sands around. But this wasn't the tower, he had to admit that, which meant something had hap-

"Behind you, brat."

Gaara spun around, and for the first time in his life fully took in the sight of Shukaku.

The beast was giant, far larger than any building he had seen in his life. He could make out a smaller head atop a body that was best described as rotund, composed of thick sand that seemed to shift and move with a mind of its own, regardless of the beast's actual movements. Behind the body, Gaara saw a single, massive tail, the indicative part that named Shukaku as the Ichibi, the One-Tailed Beast.

And it was chained up, Gaara noted. (To his relief). Restrained by loose black chains that seemed to stretch into the foggy void around them.

"If not for these, I'd have broken free long ago." Shukaku explained, its voice deep, echoing against Gaara's body. "But it is still a weak seal. Your predecessors were certainly no Uzumaki."

Uzumaki… wasn't that Naruto's last name? "What do you mean by that?" Gaara demanded. "What do the Uzumaki have to do with you?"

"Nothing, fortunately for me. If they'd sealed me up, I wouldn't ever have a chance at freedom. But with these pathetic chains… soon enough." Shukaku's face twisted into what looked like a grin, and Gaara found himself very afraid. Was this what others saw when they looked at him? Was this what he unleashed when he allowed Shukaku's influence to run rampant?

Suddenly his childhood made a bit more sense.

But Gaara steeled himself, as he remembered something Sakura had asked him during their time at Suna. Could he communicate with the beast? He'd been able to before, but never like this, not face to face. Something had changed.

Something about his meditation today had given him some sort of telepathy, and as terrified as he felt… wouldn't it be a waste not to use this opportunity?

So Gaara sat down, cross-legged in front of the beast, and decided it was time to have a talk. (He'd felt safe enough in that guard tower, and if anyone did approach him, his sands would keep him safe.)

"Why were you sealed away to begin with? Have you always hated humans?"

"Humans? Always." Shukaku seemed to hiss at the mere mention of humans. "Always greedy, always selfish, always fighting, always killing. A worthless, useless species only good for war. They sealed me away because they envied my power. I had lived in peace for generations before your ancestors grew so power hungry!"

Gaara could scarcely believe that claim. Shukaku, living in peace? That was as likely as the villages uniting together. Shukaku wasn't peaceful, he was a killer too.

But, perhaps…

"Violence… begets violence?"

"There's no other way to communicate to you people. No logic or reason that will hold back humanity's desire to dominate all life. It is bred into your bones. There will only be peace once your kind lies dead." Shukaku suddenly leaned back, rolling until head rested against the sandy floor. The chains did not restrain him much, Gaara noted, if he could move so freely. "I admit, it's become a bit of a game. How long can their pitiful seals last before I finally break free? How long will my new host last before he sees the truth of the world? You broke rather easily, brat, but now you insist on putting yourself back together."

Gaara looked away, for the first time feeling shame at Shukaku's accusation. He'd been… A monster, yes. But he'd changed… and shouldn't Shukaku want that?

"I've changed." He replied. "So… shouldn't humanity be able to change as well? If I can put myself together, then we can work on each other, piece by piece. We can stop the killing."

"And I'm a monkey's uncle." Shukaku spat onto the ground, causing the sands to writhe and shift temporarily. "There's always someone like you and her. People who want to change things. They die like everyone else."

Everyone...else?

"You speak as though you have regrets."

Shukaku was unusually silent, and Gaara felt as though he'd hit some sort of nail on the head. He had to admit to his own curiosity; what sort of regrets would, could this murderous monster carry?

Gaara blinked, and he was back in the guard tower, alone. He couldn't help but frown at the realization that, wherever he'd been (and however), he'd been 'kicked out'.

And Shukaku called him the brat.

It wasn't a bad thing to have regrets, Gaara was coming to realize. Regret allowed one to understand one's one failures and move forward from them. Gaara had not felt regret before recently, but now...far more. Regret for those he had killed so heartlessly. Regret for the life he had wasted until now. But this regret had brought him here. This regret, this knowledge, it all had changed him. That was worth holding onto, no matter what Shukaku whispered in his ear.

He didn't have to be a killer. And he wouldn't be, not anymore.

Gaara stole a glance back at the guard he'd knocked out.

...he was pretty sure the guard was still breathing.

About an hour later, he caught a glimpse of a small group making their way to the fortress, and at the head of said group was the man who had to be Hiroshi. Gaara naturally couldn't get a proper glimpse from so far away...but he had his tricks for that.

He focused his chakra, reaching for his eye and connecting the signals of his optic nerve to the chakra that naturally flowed through his sand. The sand coalesced to form a small eye, and with further concentration, his vision connected. Seeing through his sand had always been a useful trick, and now he could use it to his advantage. Nobody would be looking out for a small ball of sand following them around.

The sand-eye floated down to the base of the fortress, subtly weaving in between the legs of the walking men. From here, he had full view of Hiroshi and his subordinates, but unfortunately no sound. (Gaara briefly considered trying to invent a 'sand-ear' jutsu, but obviously now wasn't the time to waste doing so.) There was a lot that could be gained with just vision regardless. As his eye followed Hiroshi into the fortress, he was getting a prime view of not only what the fortress looked like from within, but how well guarded it was, and the rooms where Hiroshi spent the most time in.

Gaara heard a small groan from behind him. With his unconnected eye, he squinted behind him. Ah...the guard was alive after all. ...and now he had to knock him out again.

For perhaps the first time in years, Gaara felt pity for the man as he hit him again with his sand. Getting knocked out twice wouldn't feel good later.

He refocused his vision to his sand-eye, and from there, it was just a matter of waiting and following. Hiroshi seemed...angry about something. As Gaara looked around, he caught sight of a familiar face. That was the shinobi Sakura had fought earlier, the one that she'd let live. The man looked terrified as Hiroshi berated him, no doubt over the loss of the other shinobi Sakura had faced. Bored, Gaara allowed himself to start taking in the faces of the other men and women in the room, as well as what weapons they were carrying. Standard gear, by the look of things, nothing too strange, which meant likely nothing he and Sakura couldn't handle. Plus, if Sakura managed to turn some of the shinobi to their side, even easi-

Gaara froze as his eye landed on Hiroshi yet again. The man had turned his anger onto the surviving shinobi, and in his rage was demonstrating a jutsu that gave Gaara pause. The man was lifting a kunai into the air without lifting a finger.

Was he doing so with his chakra alone? Even considering that made Gaara hesitate. Kankuro lifted puppets with chakra strings, but those were still somewhat visible if you knew where to look. Gaara didn't see anything attached to the kunai, which meant either the man was telepathic, or…

Well, there was another option. The Magnet Release technique. But that technique had been unique to very, very few members of Sunagakure, his father being one of them. Magnet Release was a kekkei genkai, something you had to be born with the ability to use. But Gaara didn't know of any other technique that could simply cause metal weapons to lift themselves in such a deliberate manner, especially not a technique that could-

Hiroshi's kunai suddenly flew forward, embedding itself into the forehead of the quivering shinob. Gaara didn't so much as flinch; death, he was used to, though he felt pity once again for the shinobi who'd gotten put into such a situation simply because Sakura's conscience had gotten in his way. What was more troubling was the realization that Hiroshi had access to a such a unique skill.

Gaara disconnected himself from his sand-eye, dispersing the chakra and focusing back on his current position. He had a visual blueprint of the fortress, and he had the new knowledge regarding Hiroshi. Knowledge that was...worrying.

His father had perfected the Magnet Release technique in order to restrain Shukaku whenever he had gotten out of hand. If Gaara went up against someone else who wielded that technique...well, his father had also specifically had to use gold in order to counter Gaara's sand, but who knew what other tricks Hiroshi had up his sleeve? If they were to approach this man out of haste, it could end badly.

Pathetic. That fool of a Kazekage only managed to restrain me because you were weak.

Ah, Shukaku was back to talking again. How unfortunate.

Feh. If you let me loose, that ant of a man wouldn't be any trouble for you and your precious Sakura.

Gaara quieted his thoughts as he slowly made his way down from the fortress. Speaking of Sakura, he needed to report. And he definitely didn't have any plans to let Shukaku free anytime soon. If this Hiroshi could wield Magnet Release with any degree of skill, they'd just have to find a way around it. Perhaps Sakura could think of something. She'd certainly been creative enough with her bombs before.

So now you're letting the girl fight for you too, huh? How soft have you gotten, brat?

Gaara clenched a fist as he ran towards the rendezvous. He wasn't soft. Not for this. He'd show Shukaku. He'd show everyone back home how he'd changed. One day, he'd even be able to-

Oh for fuck's sake, if you don't stop that sappy crap, I'm going to have a hernia.

Gaara smiled, an idea suddenly forming in his mind.

Shukaku thought he was sappy now? He was just getting started. He could allow himself to linger on Naruto and his lessons of fr-

OH COME ON!

Or...he could stop thinking about the sappy stuff. But that would be contingent on one thing. That would be contingent on Shukaku being a bit more forthcoming about lending a hand to himself and Sakura. That would be contingent on cooperation.

...I changed my mind. Clearly you're still as cold-hearted as before.

For the first time in longer than he could remember, Gaara felt the urge to laugh.