Act III: Violence is cool but have you tried Friendship?

Training Montage #3: Gaara is perfectly fine


Ten years earlier

"Are you sure this is okay?" Neji asked, following Itachi into the woods.

"Sure." Itachi breezed. "Relax, none of my clan is gonna know. He knows how to keep a secret."

"I wasn't sure it would be fair." Neji continued, still uncertain. "You shouldn't have to find someone from your clan to help me train."

"Oh yeah, and who's gonna train you?" Itachi replied. "The main branch?"

Neji's silence was telling.

"He's not going to favour one of us over the other, he's cool like that." Itachi waved his friend off. "And to be honest, we could both learn from him. He's like me, but cooler."

"High praise, coming from you." Neji drawled.

They reached a clearing, and it's other occupant stood up and turned to them with a smile. "Hey Itachi. And you must be Neji." Uchiha Shisui crossed his arms. "So, let me guess. You want to learn some cool new murder techniques?"


Present day

The month began.


"So I'm an official summoner now?" Naruto confirmed, looking dubiously at the contract. "I know you said it was important at the time, but was me drinking with Gamabunta (and then riding him around the Uchiha gardens) really part of the summoning contract?"

"The drinking part was, the ride was just because he didn't like you." Jiraiya explained. Having recovered from his hangover, he and Kakashi had taken Naruto out into the forest for some private practice.

"So my four month ban from Sasuke's compound is for nothing?" Naruto glared at him.

"Yeah, but it was worth it for the look on Fugaku's face." Grinned Jiraiya. "We can get into the technicalities of summoning later, but first, ~strategy~."

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "What's the point in strategy? It's a one on one fight!"

"Think about it." Kakashi intervened. "You're stood across the arena from Gaara. Gekko goes 'match start!' What's your opening move?"

Naruto frowned. "Uh...I punch him?"

"Okay, so he blocks that with his sand wall. What next?" Kakashi looked at him emotionlessly.

"I...punch him again?"

"He blocks that too."

"I-"

"Unless you can get as fast as Hinata in these thirty days, punching him when he's prepared isn't going to do anything. Try something else."

Naruto scowled. "Fine. I use the shadow shuriken jutsu."

"He makes a sand wall and blocks them."

"I make shadow clones!"

"And what do they do?"

"Uh...punch him?"

"He blocks them with a sand wall. And then destroys them."

Naruto stomped his foot angrily. "You can't just say that every time!"

"I can." Kakashi said, levelly. "Because he will. I'm not being contentious, Naruto, I'm trying to make you think. If you'd gone into the fight right now you would have tried all of those things first to no effect, wasting time, effort, and chakra."

"...okay so maybe strategising is important." Naruto admitted.

"So think, boy." Jiraiya took over. "The first step is to understand what you can do, and what your opponent can do. You've seen him fight, and it was against a strong enough opponent that you know he wasn't holding back. However, he's also seen you fight. As Kakashi had neatly explained, Gaara knows you don't know anything that can touch him."

"And that's...bad?"

"No, actually it's good."

"Oh, come on!"

"In a normal fight you'd have to make a plan, then make a plan to counter their plan, then make a plan to counter their counter for your counter, up to about the power of five. Unless it's Hashirama versus Madara in which case it goes up to like twelve. But as Gaara (a) knows right now he could beat you, (b) seemed a very passive fighter against Lee and (c) is completely insane, I doubt he'll bother, meaning you get to shape the fight."

Naruto snorted. "Gaara's not insane."

The two jonin looked at each other.

"Naruto." Said Kakashi, slowly. "What do you think of him? As a person?"

"What, Gaara?" Naruto shrugged. "Yeah, Gaara's great. He's always smiling, he's got interesting political views, fun to talk to, kind...why are you looking at me like that?"

Jiraiya twitched. "Have you ever actually...met? Gaara?"

"Trust me." Naruto placated. "Gaara's probably out there right now doing some unquestionably nice things."


Gaara stared.

"I wonder, what potential do you have?"

The red fox squealed, desperately trying to free itself.

"So that's what the fox says." Gaara mused. "It's just I'm trying to put into practice what Naruto was talking about. I could kill you right now. Pour sand into every orifice of your body until your blood dried up..."

The animal was fortunately not capable of understanding that. It kept struggling.

"What would killing you achieve? Not much. It would be fun, a little. It wouldn't take much effort. But what else could you do? You're not very likely to grow to provide me with a fighting challenge."

The fox let out a low moan.

"But maybe that was just an example. You're not a ninja, you're an animal." Gaara shifted forwards, and the sand moved the fox to make it meet his eyes. "So...if I didn't want to kill you, what else could I do with you?"


"...he's probably, I dunno, playing with animals, or visiting Lee in the hospital. Oh crap I need to do that..." Naruto continued, makings a mental note.

Kakashi shared another glance with Jiraiya. "Okay, so we'll skip the psychological evaluation part...now before we get to brainstorming, there are three questions you have to answer:

In the next thirty days,

What can you learn?

What do you need to learn?

And who can you learn it from?"


Sasuke finished his stretches. "Okay, spill 'onii-chan'. What's so important you brought me all the way out into the woods?"

Itachi pulled a sealing scroll from his pocket, smiling. "What, am I not allowed to spend personal time with my brother?"

"We were already training every day, asshole."

"That is true." Itachi sat down with his scroll. "Well basically I don't trust Hinata's Byakugan while we're still in the village. If she was Neji she'd still be able to see us from tens of kilometres away, but I'm pretty sure she hasn't gotten that strong yet."

"You think she's spying on me?" Sasuke asked.

"You haven't been spying on her?" Itachi countered.

"I mean, I've tried." Sasuke sighed. "But she always just stops moving and stares at me until I go away. The Byakugan is bullshit."

"It does have a lot more utility than our own dojutsu." Admitted Itachi. "But yes, I want this to be kept a secret from her."

"What are you teaching me?" Sasuke asked, trying to contain his excitement. Itachi didn't do 'small'.

"When recounting the fight against Zabuzza, you complained that your kunai didn't have enough reach to fight him effectively." Itachi began. "You expressed similar issues when fighting against Orochimaru, and against Tenten. Against Hinata you will have a slightly different problem; your ideal melee range is exactly where she wants you to be. I don't suppose you can beat her in a taijutsu spar?"

"I've almost beaten her. Sometimes." Sasuke hedged.

"And if you almost survive against a hostile force, you've still died." Itachi pointed out. "You need a way to keep her out of melee range that doesn't cede her momentum or control over the fight."

"And what would you recommend?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi gave a small smile Sasuke was all too familiar with. "Tell me, how much did the academy teach you about Kenjutsu?"


Hinata fell back under Gai's punches, but was unable to stop the sweep that put her on the floor. The sky was overcast, and the grass was wet with rain.

She coughed once.

"Impressive work, my young student! You grow stronger and faster by the day!"

She grimaced and got back to her feet, returning to the gentle fist opening stance. "Again."

"The fires of your youth burn brightly!" Gai acknowledged, but he frowned. "Though your motivation seems to come less from enthusiasm and more from grim determination. Why is that?"

"Why does it matter?" She asked, defensively.

Gai took a long look at her, then shifted out of stance. "Because it just might decide the outcome of the entire battle. Rest for a moment."

She sighed and drew herself back up to full height, trying to stabilise her breathing. She was used to being good at taijutsu. She was better than Lee (honest, she was) he just cheated and didn't feel pain. Gai...Gai was better than her. Way better.

"Understanding why you fight is almost as important as being able to do so." Gai impressed. "The battle of the flesh is tied deeply to the battle of the mind. A lack of conviction saps your strength, hollow beliefs make your defenses crack under pressure, and thoughtless determination ruins your accuracy. The last is especially important for one with your style, and unfortunately it's where I fear you yourself are the most affected."

"I know what I'm doing." She bit back. "And why I'm doing it."

"Is that so?" Gai crouched down so he could meet her eyes. "Tell me. In a matter of weeks you will go out to face your teammate in combat. Why?"

"To win the tournament."

"Why?"

"To pass the chunin exams."

"Why?"

"I...don't understand."

"No reason is a wrong reason." Gai reassured. "Desiring the glory or the admittedly substantial cash prize isn't exactly noble, but it's as true a reason as any other. Is it for the sense of the achievement? Does it open up new options? Is it part of a larger goal?"

Hinata thought about it, looking down to the floor. "If I beat Sasuke, I can take part in up to two more fights against strong opponents, which will help me improve. It also makes it more likely I will be promoted to chunin after. That rank means I get to take on harder missions, but also..." She debated whether or not to reveal the next part, but then decided it wasn't much of a secret. "Certain secrets of my clan are sealed away, even from me, that require certain seniority to access. There's a vault, under my compound." Neji shouldn't have known owl summoning. He couldn't have learned some of the things her father had mentioned. "I'm only allowed in once I turn eighteen, or once I reach the rank of chunin."

Gai nodded in understanding. "Pursuit of strength. Some say noble, others disagree. But go deeper. Do you want power for power's sake, or is there another goal you need power to achieve?"

Hinata sighed in defeat and resolved to lay all her cards on the table. "Neji. I need to become strong enough to beat him."

Gai stood back up. "And now the most important question. How hard are you willing to work to achieve that goal?"

"I would level mountains." Hinata declared. "I would build skyscrapers and destroy cities; swim to the depths of the oceans and walk the breadth of the world. I would work until my bones turned to ash if it meant I could bring him down."

Lightning flashed to punctuate her words.

Gai leapt back and struck a pose. "Yosh! Now we have reached the heart of the issue, your true determination has been found! Come, young Hyuuga! Ride the wave of your realisation, and attack!"


"You're going to teach me to sword fight?" Sasuke's face lit up.

Itachi nodded. "Not exclusively; but yes. That Sharingan means you can definitely pick it up in a matter of weeks, and I know a few jutsu that couple well with it. It will probably take you a little longer to be able to form hand seals with one free hand, but you will be able to transition from kenjutsu to ninjutsu/taijutsu quickly enough by the time you get into the fight."

Sasuke didn't even try to hide his glee. Swordfighting was Itachi's thing. Itachi was teaching him Itachi's thing. Thirteen years of hero worship had led up to this moment.

"Before we begin, I have a confession to make." Itachi held a hand up, then put the other one down on his sealing scroll. "A couple months ago, you stole one of the seven ninja swordsmen's swords. You are definitely the youngest of us to do that. You are not, however, the first." He put some chakra into the seal, and in a puff of smoke appeared two thin blades.

"Is that..." Sasuke was in awe.

"Kiba." Itachi nodded. "'Fangs'. Or Raito, if it makes you uncomfortable that they have the same name as your Inuzuka classmate. Admittedly, I got them from someone who was definitely not one of the seven; just some mist jonin who thought he was much better than he really was. Their actual owner was killed by Might Dai."

"Gai never mentioned he fought the seven." Sasuke frowned.

"Not Gai." Itachi corrected. "Dai. Gai's father. It was the third great ninja war; the seven ninja swordsmen all took to the battlefield at once and Dai, the absolute maniac, opened the eighth gate and beat all of them in the most dramatic moment of the entire war. He died immediately afterwards but...damn. I have it recorded on Sharingan, actually."

"Weren't you, like, four or five when the war ended?" Sasuke pointed out.

Itachi gave him a look. "I activated my Sharingan after my first kill, in that war. I was four."

"Right, you're amazing, I get it." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Does that mean you've also copied how to use these things?"

"Oh, you bet." Itachi picked one up and handed it over. "You're too small to use both, but one should be perfect for you."

Sasuke took it as Itachi continued explain. "Raito is permanently imbued with lightning release chakra (don't ask me how they did it) which first of all means it boosts lighting jutsu if you can manage to cast them with your off hand, and second of all means it's really fucking sharp. I know you're used to fighting with lethal weapons but please don't try and decapitate your teammate with it."

"Got it." Sasuke looked down the length of the blade, using his Sharingan to better analyse its details and dimensions. Then he snorted. "You had Uchiha clan rulez engraved on them?"

Itachi nodded, grinning. "By the same guy that put big bloody cleaver on Zabuzza's sword. Tenten's dad, actually. He was both horrified and in stitches at the prospect."

"We should start a campaign of engraving derogatory nicknames on all the swords."

"Well Samehada is currently held by Kisame and is technically sentient, but sure, aim big." Itachi picked up the other sword and got into position. "Now watch me with the Sharingan. I'm going to run through some of the basic kata, then we're going to start hitting each other."

"We're going to spar with some of the sharpest swords in existence?"

"You're not good enough to hit me and I'm good enough not to hit you."

"That's...fair enough."

Sitting down, Sasuke powered up his eyes, and watched the show.


Temari let herself in to the Sand Siblings' apartment with a sigh, after a long day of training. Leaf had lent them the place to stay, the Kazekage's name opening plenty of doors. When she walked into the communal room, she paused.

"Gaara?" She asked. "What is...this?"

The host of an incredibly dangerous demonic beast smiled at her from across the room. "It's a fox."

"I...see that." Temari looked down. The animal in the centre of the carpet looked absolutely terrified. Noticing that Gaara's sand had finally drifted away from it, it scampered away; not towards the exits, but to Temari, curling around her legs and shivering.

"It's housetrained." Gaara explained. "I taught it that if it tries to escape it gets hurt."

"That's...nice..." Temari looked towards the rooms other occupant. Kankuro shook his head in silent denial. So this was just Gaara being Gaara, then.

"Is this because of Naruto?" Temari asked. "You know, because it's a fox, and..."

"I didn't think of that, actually." Gaara replied, conversationally. "Although now that I think about it, Shukaku may be pushing me towards related imagery."

"Oh, good." Temari leaned down, awkwardly, and pet the fox. It moved closer to her. "Why, exactly, did you bring a fox home brother?"

"I was trying to think of uses for it other than killing it for my own amusement." Gaara explained. "And I thought you might like it."

"Oh." Temari nodded. "Right. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Smiled Gaara.

"Then I'll just..." Temari gestured. "Take it into my room...?"

"Sure." Gaara replied, noncommittally, and went back to staring out the window. Temari picked up the very limp fox and walked off with it, depositing it on her bed and flopping down next to it. She began staring dead eyed at the wall, trying to figure out what had just happened. Kankuro followed her in soon after.

"Something's fucked up with Gaara." He summarised.

"Yeah no shit." Temari agreed. "This place has done something to him. Do you think it's Uzumaki?"

"He said that the Kyuubi's presence was making Shukaku more restless." Kankuro pointed out. "That doesn't make you adopt a fucking fox. And how did he even train a fox? I didn't even know you could domesticate those."

"It's Gaara." Temari reminded him. "And that wasn't what I meant. Naruto's...nice to him. He doesn't notice or doesn't care that Gaara's a complete monster; he tries to make friends with him anyway, and Gaara's actually responding to that."

"My insane little brother's finally getting a hang of things." Kankuro shook his head. "I'd give Naruto a kiss if this wasn't the worst possible time for him to be doing it."

Temari understood what he was insinuating. "Gaara won't defect. We'd know if he stopped following orders because he'd be killing everyone he saw until he met another jinchurikki and they annihilated each other."

"Thats been true so far. But if Naruto gives him a different reason not to kill people..."

Temari gave her brother a searching look. Despite how he sometimes acted, Kankuro was a lot smarter than he looked. "Do we report this to Baki?"

"He would only make it worse if he tried to intervene. I vote we keep it to ourselves." Kankuro reasoned. "Let Gaara learn some empathy over the month, bring Konoha to its knees, then reap the rewards of Naruto's friendship."

"God, you make us sound like the monsters." Temari shivered a little.

"We're ninja. We follow orders." Kankuro reasoned. He pointed at the fox. Temari realised she'd absently been stroking it. "Are you going to get rid of that?"

"And tell Gaara I didn't want his gift? I choose life, thanks." Temari snorted. "Besides, it's actually kinda cute."

"Oh for...you're really going to get attached to it?"

"Fuck off it's a present from my little brother." She pouted and shifted closer to the fox.

Kankuro sighed, and turned away. "I'm going to work on my puppets. You have to figure out how to feed that thing. And I'm not picking up its waste!"

She flagged him off as he left, sighing and turning to her new pet. It blinked up at her. "I'm going to have to think of a name for you."


And so we're onto the third main 'act' of the story. The best act. I should probably mention that the entirety of my 'Part 1' is written now, and will continue to come to you in digestible chunks as I work on shippuden.

So, in summary, everyone is plotting against each other, and Gaara is having doubts. Will those doubts be enough come the finals? Who knows! Well, me, but, whatever.