Author's note:

What age is Gaara, really?! According to profiles he's 12. I say 'Eh' to that, and thus Gaara has been changed to 13. He was born in January (17), anyway.

Wait, 6 + 6 = 12!? Okay, yeah. However as you will see later, Gaara's closer to seven in the last chapter, 7 + 6 = 13, right?

Gennin exams/ timeline: I don't know when they take place, but I'm going to assume they take place around the same time that the Chuunin does. Thus, if Chuunin are held twice a year, then one should take place approximately every 6 months. If they take place every six months, then that would mean that around January (more than likely) or February they take place. Thus, the next available one is in July, which Gaara takes.

__________________________________________

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Tracking a Fox: Chapter One

Already five years had passed and ultimately he had not met this other 'demon'. Staring at the man before him, Gaara watched with the same expression as the one from that night so long ago. In return, he was regarded with that of a stranger's indifferent eyes. During these last few years that man had slowly morphed from being known as 'father' but to 'Kazekage' in his mind. At the current moment he was not pleased with either.

Standing in the chambers of the Sand's Kazekage, the two stared coldly at one another. His father's expression was carefully hidden behind the delicate cloth covering, but it was easy to discern the contempt he held for his son. Seated in the only chair, he glared down at Gaara who stood at the steps below. Outside, the wind and sand shifted against the clay buildings and could be heard howling. As though they where listening for this, the flames from the torches began to quiver and dance with their shadows.

"I have become a gennin."

The others in the room had fled quickly when the youngest of the Kazekage had entered. Judging by the tendrils of sand wrapping around his feet, the recently turned thirteen-year old was not too thrilled. Everyone in the village knew what could happen, what had happened. He didn't even notice them.

"It is time for your end."

All that he could see was his father, the Kazekage, perched above him in the shadows of the night. The young man had completed his side of the deal and he had grown tired of waiting. He had received his badge of adulthood, the newly acquired slip of fabric and metal tied to the leather strap at his side.

Excited from feeding off his emotions, the sand began to rise dramatically around him. Gaara again, never noticed. All he could see was his father.

"You are not officially a gennin. When you have gained an instructor and completed eight missions, come back."

The sand plummeted to the ground before rising again quickly. No, he could not kill him. The Kazekage, his father was still needed.

Gaara turned sideways sending a long glare to the older man before choosing to leave. Behind him, the sand continued to follow like a small animal, rubbing occasionally at his legs.

In turn, the Kazekage watched his son disappear quickly and silently from the room. It was only a few moments later when the screams started. __________________________________________

The next day proved to be more eventful for Gaara than the one before. His warning had from last night had paid off, not only relieving him of his stress but motivating the Kazekage into assigning him his team and teacher.

Both of his teammates were older and more experienced, both having become gennin nearly six months ago. It didn't matter. Where they had passed late, he had passed early. He and his siblings were on equal footing, unless you counted strength.

Thankfully, their instructor knew this and did not demand anything from him. He simply looked to Gaara as the team leader, stated the facts and allowed them to go. It was clear that as long as he remained they had no need to mess with D-rank missions, as younger gennin tended to do. Instead they'd been upgraded to C-rank. __________________________________________

The completion of his eighth mission was marked by the coming of March. It was at his own discretion that the Kazekage had chosen to enter Gaara and his team in the Chuunin exam. Not that he'd really had an alternative solution. It was either allow his son to take the exam or face his wrath when he went to look for his demon anyway.

Like every year previous, the exam was to take place in the village of the Leaf. However the exam was still four months away, and Gaara's patience was wearing entirely too thin.

He was close to completing his goal, to finding the other one like him. All he needed was to get a name, a description and then he could easily find them. If he had to, he'd kill every solitary person in the Leaf village until they handed the demon over.

Sensing his thoughts, the sand rattled around in gourd strapped to his back. On second thought, maybe he'd do that anyway. __________________________________________

Baki was already waiting for the children of the Kazekage as they arrived at the proper meeting place, a small enclosure overlooking the village. Stepping into the shade of the platform, Gaara allowed his siblings to catch up. They were flanking him a moment later, Temari to his left and Kankurou to the right. He stared at his teacher with a steady gaze, enjoying the stiff posture he presented. So he'd heard about the blood spilt yesterday.

"So, what're we doing today?" Temari asked, hands on her hips.

"Kazekage has assigned us a B-rank mission. We'll leave today and head north for the next couple of months where we're to eliminate several...nuisances." Baki's right eye scanned all three of them, before he appeared satisfied. "If there's nothing else, I'd like to make good headway before noon."

His siblings waited for Gaara's response, their eyes watching his back for the slightest change in temperament.

"Let's go." He stated dully, before turning and riding the winds back to the ground. A moment later all three were beside him as he walked through the streets and towards the gates of the village. The sooner these meaningless missions were complete, the sooner he would reach his own ambitions.

__________________________________________

By midday they'd managed to reach the edge of the sand's terrain. Small turfs of grass and more rocky attributes began to level out the fields as they raced across the surface of their homeland. Leaping over the last sand dune, Gaara came to a halt. Baki was right behind him, followed by Temari and then Kankurou. He turned towards the mentor of the his team and waited silently.

"We made better time than I thought we would. Wait here while I scout."

Their teacher disappeared a second later, leaving his three students to take in the view. Green stretched forward as far as they could see. Off in the distance, small speaks reached towards the sky like brown pebbles and littered it just as readily as the ground. Darkened clouds hung over the area and boomed menacingly in the distance.

Minutes later Baki returned to lay out the plan details. Camp would be set up along the edge of the trees to provide shelter and refuge from the sun. A lake was three miles off in the east and could be used for various personal reasons other than drinking. They couldn't chance a fire so close to the borders of Sand Country, so it would be cold rations tonight.

Without saying a word, Gaara broke away from the respective group and headed forward alone. The others watched him silently before parting to make camp. He'd return in a few hours after the hunt.

__________________________________________

His hunt was something he did regularly, a habit he had formed after finding out about the 'other'. An addiction, thrill, hobby, anything you could call it, it was that and so much more. Since the acceptance that he and the demon where one entity; it had become more and more obvious that it was what he was meant to do. Besides, it pleased mother. Inside his head he could hear her faintly calling out to him. Right now she was demanding blood. Any blood.

Leaping upwards, he caught a low branch and pulled himself up. Concentrating and applying almost the same amount of chakra that would take to walk up a wall, he leapt and caught another branch with his feet. Satisfied, he raced forward searching for his first victim.

__________________________________________

In a single hour he'd already managed to kill half a dozen creatures. The sand had easily crushed each animal's spine which in turn allowed blood to splatter against the trees, ground, and any other visible item. Waiting for the sand to absorb its meal, Gaara scanned for the next victim.

It didn't take too long; a small rabbit zoomed underneath him while scurrying through the bushes.

Splat.

Satisfaction raced through his mind along with words of praise, a gift from his mother. She rarely spoke to him directly, instead opting to communicate feelings. Inwardly he grinned. When she felt happy, he was happy. Facing to the south, he made his way back towards camp while the sand caressed his legs.

__________________________________________

When morning broke the next day, he was the only one awake. Sitting in a branch of a random tree, he watched as the others lay beneath him on various piles of leaves and other forest excretions. Idly his mind wandered to the thought of how easy it would be to destroy them right here, right now. He wouldn't or couldn't with the Chuunin exam so close. They had to enter as a team, after-all. But he'd get them eventually. His sand rattled in anticipation of the dark judgments. Mother was sleeping too but that didn't mean she couldn't hear him.

Not more than a minute passed before his musings were interrupted. The sounds of voices began to spill over from a nearby clearing. Inside, he began to boil with eagerness at the prospect of human blood. The fools shouldn't have come so close to camp. He leapt to the ground as easily as a natural predator would; landing silently he made his way towards them without pause.

He found them before long. The group consisted of four shinobi, simply standing around as though they had nothing else to do. They were all adults and more than likely Jounin. Not that it mattered.

He instantly struck out, killing two with Sabaku SouSou before they knew what had happened. The others he played with, ripping body parts off one at a time. It was a form of Sabaku Kyuu that he'd been experimenting with; it almost allowed the same amount of blood to coat everything as Sabaku SouSou.

Their screams wracked the air in twin crescendos as the fluids of life dripped from them. His team was assembled behind him a moment later, admiring his handiwork. Temari and Kankurou looked positively green.

Allowing the sand to drop the last man's head to the ground, Gaara turned and spoke with no hesitation.

"Ready."

He had to admit that he enjoyed the looks on the faces of his teammates. They were horrified at what he'd done, though it seemed that Baki took it in stride. Before they could reply, he took to the trees and headed towards the mountains. Immediately they continued after him, trying to keep up.

"Who were those shinobi?" Kankurou asked, eyeing Baki as they ran.

"Jounin from the Stone. Looks like they were headed towards our village though." Baki replied.

A dark look passed between Kankurou and Temari, twisting their faces in determination and worry.

"Where they waiting for us?" Temari yelled as the wind rushed passed them.

"I don't know for certain. It doesn't matter anyway; all we have to do is complete the mission."

They continued moving for another hour and a half before coming to an end outside a small village. It was Baki who had stopped the group this time.

"Here's one of the targets. No one is to leave this area alive, got that? Destroy everything. I want Gaara to be the main attacker; everyone else is to set up formation on the outside of the circumference."

__________________________________________

Fourteen weeks passed before their team finally returned to the gates of the Sand Village. In that time, they'd destroyed all seven targets and an extra five relayed by messenger. Each village was located right outside the Wind country but not close enough to the Hidden Stone Village to be protected properly.

It was during the fourth village massacre that Gaara called on 'mother'.

The moon had shown down over the mountains, bathing everything in scarlet light. As the night progressed and more people were ripped apart, Gaara began to under go the changes.

Sand had snaked around his body, pulsing with blue veins and drifting over him. It was one of the few times that he'd called Shukaku forth willingly. From behind him, a tail spurt into the air and shifted by itself.

With his body absolutely oozing power and moon singing to him, he and his demon had slaughtered every man, woman, and child in minutes. Ripping and tearing them apart until the remains of their bodies were interconnected in a finely tuned web of blood, flesh and bone. His sister and brother watched in silent terror until they chose to flee. He had loved every minute of it.

When they arrived in the village they rested for another week before taking off out the gates for a second time. Baki chose to stay behind, preferring to keep out of it in preparation for other things. Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou went solo, heading towards the long awaited home of the second demon child.

Inside, Gaara smiled once again as he and his team raced across the dunes. His patience had paid off and soon, very soon, he would meet the one just like him. He would meet the demon of the Fire country.