No one ever called Naruto anything but degrading.
His best friend saw him as an idiot.
His crush truly thought of him as a nuisance, hurt him, took advantage of the fact he would never dare hit back.
His own teacher thought he was stupid, the dullest knife of the set, the one kid who wasn't even part of a set in the first place.
He was the monster that parents taught their children to fear and attack — someone not to be associated with no matter what.
Then one day, he met Gaara no Sabaku, the son of the Kazekage.
Gaara was the youngest of three siblings and was an outcast, just like Naruto, for almost the exact same reason.
They met when they were both 4 years old.
In the ninja world, there were four main acknowledged ranks: Genin, Chūnin, Jōnin and Kage. After one became a genin upon graduating the academy, they could participate in the Chunin Exams to officially become a chunin.
Gaara and Naruto met during the first chunin exams of their lives that had happened in Konoha.
As the son of the Kazekage and next in line to the title, Gaara was there to watch and learn from the Chunin Exams.
While Kankuro, Gaara's older brother, could become Kage in their father's stead, Gaara had a powerful demon sealed inside of him. The council of Sunagakure wanted control of Gaara, so the moment the previous Kazekage stepped down from his position, or died, Gaara would be there to fill the public role of Kage.
Naruto was wandering Konoha, lurking in the shadows (an easy feat due to doing so for his entire life) when he spotted a redhead walking in the open street next to someone in very familiar robes.
Naruto looked closer, his bright blue eyes scrunching up adorably as he inspected the adult next to a boy very near his own age.
Naruto realized that the man looked familiar because his robes were almost identical to those worn by the Hokage during formal ceremonies and events, complete with the Kage hat.
Naruto notes that the biggest difference was that, instead of the Japanese Kanji for Fire as the symbol on the man's hat, it had the Kanji for Wind and was green.
Konoha was in the Land of Fire, so Naruto could only guess that, whatever village these two came from, it must be in the Land of Wind.
Naruto scratched the back of his neck, disturbing the knotted locks of sunny blond.
Perhaps he should greet the two?
There were no villagers out, they were all gathered for the Chunin Exams, so no one would call him out as a demon, so maybe he could make a new friend without trouble.
The blond 4 year old grinned at the thought and quietly stepped onto the path that the two males were walking, enough out of the way so that the two could pass easily, but the two would be forced to notice him and hopefully greet him.
Naruto was surprised when he realised that the two appeared to be related.
The older man looked almost 20 and had wine-coloured hair, while the younger boy, barely 4, had similarly styled hair. The only difference was that the younger's hair was redder, instead of having a dark hue like the older man.
The younger boy was smiling slightly, almost tentatively, as though wishing he were anywhere but here, perhaps hiding away in a secret place of comfort.
The redheaded child looked at Naruto as they approached, his smile turning into an adorable little confused 'o' shape.
The child looked back up to the man Naruto assumed to be the redhead's father.
The older Kage nodded his head and continued a little down the path past Naruto before stopping to watch the coming interaction out of Naruto's eyesight.
The redhead child cautiously stopped in front of Naruto, tightly gripping onto the torso of a small brown teddy bear.
The kid kept glancing at the bear as comfort then glancing at Naruto before quickly glancing back down towards his own feet.
Seeing how uncomfortable the other child was, Naruto held out a copper-toned hand and a sunshine smile.
The redhead looked up in surprise, eyes widened slightly.
Naruto took that moment to notice that the other boy had lovely eyes, like coral, shaded pale teal and glimmering with faint hope. Thick black lines circled the boy's eyes, a sign he took as insomnia that gave him an appearance almost like a tanuki.
The redhead hesitantly reached out his hand, as though if he raised it too fast, something would hurt him.
When the boy's hand reached the blond's, sand shot up from nowhere and clasped Naruto's hand in a vice grip, effectively wrenching his hand away from the redhead's.
The redhead closed his eyes and clutched his stuffed toy, waiting for the inevitable crack of bones and scream of pain or terror.
There was a loud crack, but instead of a scream, the redhead was left there in silence.
He carefully opened one eye and then the other, involuntarily, in shock. He lowered his bear and loosened his grip on the toy.
Instead of being scared and crying out in pain, the blond boy was prodding the sand gently like a foreign animal.
Even the wine-haired man nearby was expecting a negative reaction and frowned about the fact that a 4 year old just sustained a broken hand and thought nothing of it.
If anything at all, the child was rather curious about the attack.
Naruto looked at the redhead, giving up on making the sand let go of its death grip, and grinned his widest smile.
"I guess I can't touch you, can I?" Naruto asked softly, though he was aware of the answer already.
He grin widened when the other boy nodded.
"I thought so. But it doesn't matter!"
The sudden declaration startled the redhead a little, gaining his full attention.
"I don't care if I can touch you it not. There's no need to touch each other if we're gonna be friends!"
The wine-haired man suddenly held a small spark of hope for his redheaded child, hope in the possibility of finally finding a friend.
The blond's smile became smaller and warmer, seemingly more real than the shiny-toothed smile from before.
"My name's Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha! At least, I hope. How about you? What's your name?"
The redhead gave a tiny, warm smile to the quiet and spontaneous, energetic blonde before him.
"I'm Gaara," the redhead said, making the blond's smile widen again. "My dream is to become Kazekage, like my dad."
Gaara looked over at the wine-haired man, pointing at him so that Naruto understood that the man was his father.
The blond's beautiful blue eyes widened in admiration.
"That's so cool! I wish I were related to a Kage!" Naruto exclaimed, still staying quite quiet. Realization seemed to dawn on the blond in that moment and he mumbled to himself, "Never mind, even if he's dead."
Gaara tilted his head and Naruto couldn't help but get red at the amount of cuteness the teal eyed boy was oozing.
Naruto waved his hands in a 'never mind' gesture.
Gaara furrowed up his eyebrows at Naruto's sand-encased hand, making his father glance back at the sand, never having really forgotten it.
"I'm sorry," Gaara said, looking a little ashamed. "The sand is always trying to protect me against anything it thinks is a threat. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it off, I don't have the best control of it."
Gaara's eyes glanced back up in surprise as, once more, the blond waved him off.
The blue eyed child looked at his sand-encased hand with sparks of determination and closed off indifference.
He suddenly grabbed his wrist and both males in his company winced and stepped back in horror when a sharp snap resonated within the empty street.
The redheads both darted forward to try and stop the other boy, but there was no time when the blond started to snap bones further up in his hand, snap after snap resounding throughout the bare area as the sand became limp and spilled to the floor, losing the shape it had created.
The Kazekage stared at Naruto's hand, which had started to have protrusions of sharp corners in areas that should not have had.
Gaara stared in guilt as Naruto started to click and snap bones and joints back into place, returning his hand to its correct shape.
The Kazekage decided to interfere, stepping forward and crouching in front of the child, noticing how small he wasfor his age
unlike his own son, who seemed to tower over the other boy despite supposedly being the same age.
"Hello," the Kazekage greeted the tiny child with a gentle voice.
Naruto grinned up at the man, extending the same hand he used to try and shake Gaara's hand.
The Kazekage blinked at the boy's hand in genuine surprise before softly grasping it and shaking it gently, the lack of concern with his own safety continuing to confirm to the Kage that this was no ordinary child.
"Hi, Kazekage-san, I'm Naruto!" Naruto exclaimed a little louder than when he greeted Gaara, using the wrong suffix in his inexperienced age, making the Kazekage smile gently, despite his curiosity and confusion.
"You may call me Rasa. It's a pleasure to meet you, Naruto-kun," the Kazekage said, letting go of the blond's hand.
The blue eyed boy blinked and grew a wider grin, looking a little more hesitant than he'd been with his fellow 4 year old. Rasa noticed this and beckoned Gaara over.
"Naruto-kun."
Naruto's head shot up to face the older man, unused to such a kind tone in an adult's voice, nor such a familial suffix being added to his name.
He nodded, acknowledging being addressed, letting Rasa continue.
"Do you think you can show my son around Konoha for a little bit? I brought him here to watch the Chūnin Exams, but I don't wish for him to witness anything too...inappropriate. Do you think you can look after him while I'm gone?"
"I-I'm sorry, Rasa-san, I cant! It's just, I don't want your son to be seen as anything bad here!" Naruto said shakily, shaking in his panic, a sudden change from his previous mood that made Rasa raise an eyebrow in questioning.
Naruto took the liberty to explain his tremendous distaste in such a scenario.
"Well, the villagers don't really like me and if they see Gaara-san with me, then they'd probably think he was something bad, like me."
Gaara looked up at his father, as if daring him not to let Naruto his friend. Rasa saw the look his son gave him and smiled at Naruto.
"I wouldn't worry about that. Back where me and Gaara are, Gaara isn't very liked either. I think that it would be beneficial if the two of you got to know one another. You may be able to relate to one another. Besides, everyone will be watching theChūnin Exams, you have nothing to worry about. If any stray people do attempt anything, just use my name against them, alright?"
Naruto hesitantly nodded his head almost submissively. Rasa ruffled Naruto's hair, making him give a little squeak, one that Rasa found adorable.
Rasa pushed his son forward gently, a gesture Naruto noticed made the sand on the floor twitch, as though it wasn't sure if the Kazekage was a threat to Gaara or not.
It was that day that Naruto and Gaara became lifelong best friends.
Despite being almost a literal world apart, they understood each other's pain and Naruto managed to convince the Hokage to let him go to every Chūnin Exam, no matter where they were, except Tsuchi no Kuni.
The Hokage would never let Naruto anywhere near Tsuchi no Kuni.
Every Chūnin Exam, Naruto would meet up with Gaara and they'd explore the village it was being held in, making them very familiar with the foreign countries.
Gaara, being the son of the ruler of his village and taught by the best, was made a Genin at a very young age and would take any mission that involved going to Konoha, only strengthening his bond with Naruto as the years passed.