Fandom: Naruto
Title: Never Ever
Part: 02 of 15
Genre: General/Action/Adventure
Rating: PG
Warning: AU
Spoilers: Manga up to Chuunin Exams
Summary: What if Naruto had sided with the Sand in the Konoha invasion?

Chapter 02: Growing Up

Kazekage rubbed his chin thoughtfully as Naruto told his story the best he could without the use of eloquent words. Apparently, it was Kyuubi who initiated the 'running away' business and not the boy himself. But the Sand Village would benefit greatly in the future if they had an S-Class demon living within its walls. And what the boy didn't know wouldn't hurt him either.

"Naruto-kun, you've been a very bad child." he said it that slow, deceptively kind fatherly way he had.

"Huh?"

"You ran away from your village." Kazekage continued. "Your Hokage has to eliminate people who run away, does he not?"

Naruto began to make an attempt at defending Sandaime. The old man had been kind to him all these years and he was the only person who did not look at him with those eyes. But then he remembered those Hunter Nin and lost quite a bit of steam.

What reason could he possibly use to excuse Sandaime for sending them after him?

Of course, all of what Kazekage just told Naruto was a complete fabrication. There were never any Hunter Nin as the Kyuubi previously predicted, only ANBU. Blame it on luck, but Kazekage was merely fortunate that that his story corresponded with what the Kyuubi told Naruto. Then again, he was the master of manipulating the truth and guessing and playing off what was on people's minds, and Naruto's rather simple one wasn't much of a challenge at all.

"I'll tell you what," he said, as if he had just came up with a masterful plan. "You can stay here in the village and become one of our shinobi. How does that sound to you?"

"For how long?" Naruto asked.

"How long?" Kazekage repeated, smiling beneath his mask of cloth, "Why, for as long as you wish, Naruto-kun."

---

Naruto followed the Kazekage down the street. The Hidden Sand Village was so weird and so different from Konoha. The streets were deserted and it was late morning. In Konoha, the streets were always filled no matter what time of the day it was. Had Naruto any observatory skills, he would have noted that the streets were empty for a reason. The place had been cleared in a hurry for some reason.

Suddenly, he saw a person standing in the middle of the street. When he got closer, he realized that it was a boy, about the same age as him. He had red hair and aqua eyes with some kind of black makeup around them. Kazekage barely gave the boy a second look, never ceasing his pace. And was it just his imagination, or did he walk a little faster when around that child?

'I wonder who he is.' Naruto thought as he glanced back at the boy. 'He has the same eyes as I do...'

---

"This will be your room."

It was a BIG room. Well, maybe it wasn't THAT big, but compared to his tiny little bedroom in Konoha, it was big enough. For the moment, it was empty save a bed and blanket, but would soon be filled with many things detailing Naruto's growth over the years.

"Thank you." Naruto said, still in awe that someone would be so kind to him. "Thank you very much."

Kazekage nodded and left the room without another word.

As soon as he did, Naruto leapt into the room and began turning around in circles and circles with childlike joy. The pain in his feet and hands were gone. A good night sleep always did the trick and it didn't fail him now. The pain of running away and being chased seemed to disappear from his mind. All he could think about right now was that he was far away from all those cold eyes and that he was safe from being killed for running away.

Suddenly, he realized that two pairs of them were watching him from the doorway. Two children, one girl and one boy, both with golden hair and both who looked slightly older than he did.

"Hi!" He said happily. To his joy, they didn't shrink back.

The girl walked in with confidence that Naruto could never muster and said, "I'm Temari and this is Kankurou." She jerked her head back at the boy who was a step behind her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto." He said happily. "Do you live here?"

"Yeah. I live in the room three doors down and Kankurou lives two doors down."

"Who lives in the room next to me then?" Naruto asked.

The two exchanged a 'look'.

"His name is Gaara. He's our little brother. Steer clear of him no matter what you do." Kankurou warned. "He's..." he trailed off.

Though he didn't understand why, the way Kankurou said it was like Gaara was some kind of disease.

"Okay." he agreed. "So anyway, how old are you guys?"

---

The three of them got along great in Naruto's first afternoon in the Sand Village. That is, other than Kankurou's obvious doll fetish- he insisted weren't dolls; they were marionettes. And other than the fact that Naruto was given his first lesson in etiquette by Temari. It all started when Naruto said her name.

"Don't you usually add a suffix to the end of names, Naruto-kun?" she asked.

"Why do people do that?" he asked.

"To show respect! To show closeness! No one ever taught you?"

"No..." Naruto started and was immediately cut off by the start of Temari's lecture.

"To someone you show extreme respect to, add '-sama'. Add '-kun' and '-san' to the end of names people you're close to but still respect. Add 'chan' only to people you are really close to. '-Dono' and '-han' aren't used as much any more. Listen to the way people talk and pick up stuff from it. Got it?"

"What's the difference between '-kun' and '-san'? Why don't we just use one of them?"

"Did you hear a word I just said!"

"Yeah I did, but you went too fast!"

"What do you mean I went too fast? You're just too slow!"

Oh yes. They got along just great.

---

The odd thing about Kazekage's household was that everyone ate meals separately unless you happened to feel hungry at the same time as someone else.

That was all good and fine for Naruto. He usually ate alone anyway. But when he went down to eat that night, he saw that boy from this morning eating his dinner. The one with red hair and black lines around his eyes.

"Hey! I didn't know you lived here." Naruto said to him. "What's your name?"

The boy seemed surprised. "Gaara."

'He's Gaara? He doesn't look so dangerous. Hmm...'

Suddenly, he remembered an incident that happened a little less than half a year ago. A teacher was telling the class that one should not judge people by what other people tell them, and only judge them by what you know. But when one of the kids pointed at Naruto and asked about him, the teacher had said: "That's different." without even looking at him.

"Is there anything to eat around here? I'm kinda hungry." Naruto said, hoping to start a conversation.

Gaara stared at him for a second before finally saying, "I think Yashamaru can make something."

"Who?"

"Yashamaru. My guardian." He slid off the chair. "I'll go find him for you."

"I'll go with you." said Naruto.

---

Yashamaru looked over his shoulders as he made Naruto his dinner. The two boys were sitting at the table and chatting. Well, Naruto was doing all the actual chatting. Gaara, the not-so-experienced conversationalist, was just nodding here and there during every one of Naruto's pauses.

Part of him felt happy that Gaara finally found someone who wasn't scared of him. Yet part of him still felt hatred towards him for killing his sister. But when he sees the hesitant smile creeping on Gaara's face, truthfully, the happiness does outweigh the hatred.

---

Before he knew it, three months passed. Three happy months where he spent time with the three Sand siblings. Temari was glad to have someone other than Kankurou to talk to. Kankurou was glad to have someone other than Temari to talk to and Gaara was glad just to be with someone who wasn't scared of him.

He was quite surprised to find out that all of them were related and that they were the children of Kazekage. And yet through all three months, he never figured out why Gaara was so feared be everyone. Then again, he wasn't the brightest bulb in the closet. And yet again, no one figured out that Naruto had a demon within him as well because he was a happy child, and it was the common belief among ignorant that 'demon children' were usually dark and mirthless.

But after those three months, Kazekage decided that it was time for Naruto to begin his training in becoming a shinobi. And since he wasn't a 'normal child' like Temari and Kankurou, and he didn't have an absolute defense like Gaara, he was to be tutored privately instead of going to school.

And his tutor was a man named Baki.

---

Naruto looked around him. They were in the middle of a desert, it was noon, and the sun was high and beating down on them. Just ducky.

Baki handed him a small canteen of water. "Run north until you find a flag. Then run back."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to teach history and stuff like that before we ever get to field work?"

"You want to know about history, go read a book. The worst thing next to a dead shinobi is a fat one." Baki said bluntly. "Once you train your body enough and once you're ready to learn about the chakra system, I'll teach you what you need to know. Otherwise, the stuff you learn in school is a load of crap."

Naruto mumbled under his breath, but started running north anyhow while Baki sat down on the sand to meditate. 'Why did I have to be assigned as a damn baby-sitter?' He thought. 'I hate brats.'

But then again, he hasn't seen Naruto's full potential.

---

'Why' Naruto huffed 'the heck' another puff 'am I doing this?'

He ran for about five minutes now and he was already dead tired. Baki- sensei said run north, but what if he got off track? What if he accidentally turned somewhere? What if there was no flag and Baki just wanted to get rid of him?

Naruto shook the bottle. Empty. He chucked it toward a nearby dune, mumbling harmless childish curses under his breath.

Baki sighed. Maybe this type of endurance training was too hard. The brat couldn't even make halfway. But still, he needed to train both his body to adapt to the Sand way of life, and it wasn't going to be easy.

---

After an entire week, still, all he did was run. Sure, it was getting a whole lot easier to navigate through the desert and it was taking him less time to do it, and Baki didn't have to rescue him again, but STILL. What was the point?

Then again, Naruto wasn't the brightest of them all.

---

"So today, after I finished running that entire course," Naruto said excitedly, "Baki-sensei said we'd start something new tomorrow! Isn't that great?"

"Amazing, Naruto-kun." Temari said through a mouthful of sushi. "That entire running course is a training ground for Genin. If you're already able to run that, then you've probably mastered the endurance of a Genin."

"It's not that cool. I don't get why HE gets a private sensei and WE'RE all stuck in school." Kankurou mumbled as he shoved a spoonful of... whatever it was he was eating into his mouth. It had a particularly distasteful resemblance to vomit.

"Well, you're just too busy playing with all your dolls to concentrate on training." Temari smirked.

"For the absolute LAST time. They're MARIONETTES. NOT dolls- get it right."

"Yea sure." Temari replied, suddenly having a coughing fit in which the words 'doll' could be heard indistinctly between each cough.

Naruto watched the two of them as they argued continuously. The two of them seemed to get along really well. But what about Gaara? Why does everyone seem to hate him?

All of a sudden, the teapot started singing, signaling that the hot water was done boiling. As he gleefully poured the water into the small instant container, Temari said to him:

"One day, I'm going to force you down and make you eat Udon. Now THAT'S that good stuff."

"Ramen's better. Udon's just fat noodles," Naruto said, sticking his tongue out at her, a gesture of which she returned. "Ne, Temari." Naruto asked, suddenly thoughtful, "Why is everyone so afraid of Gaara?"

The two of them froze at the mere mention of his name.

"Don't tell anyone that we were the ones that told you this," Kankurou whispered, leaning in. "But Gaara has the spirit of a Tanuki demon forced into his body when our mother was pregnant."

"Really?" Naruto asked, and before he could even think about what could happen, he blurted out. "Well, I have a demon sealed in me too."

There was silence.

"Don't joke, Naruto-kun." Temari said, trying to laugh it off.

"It's not a joke." Naruto insisted, "It's true. I have a Kyuubi inside me. That's how I ran away from the Leaf village. Well, I wasn't the one doing the running but..."

'There was no way Naruto can be a demon. He's... happy. He's nice. There's just no way. But he doesn't seem to be lying.'

"Does it make a difference?" Naruto finally asked. "Will you guys treat me any different now that you know that I have a Kyuubi inside me?"

The two of them actually thought about that. They worked their eight and nine year old brains to come up with an honest answer. And they found that truthfully, they wouldn't really treat him any different. Sure, they'd be wary sometimes, but in general, he was still the same brat that they knew and loved.

"See?" Naruto asked, secretly relieved. Then, his voice grew softer and his voice took on a tone of sadness. "The way Gaara is treated is the way I was treated when I was still in the Leaf Village."

There was another silence. Then, unexpectedly, Temari reached over and gave her surrogate little brother a tiny little hug.

"We'll never treat you like that." She said, Kankurou nodding in agreement.

The ramen was cold by now.