A/N: Hi, how's it going? I'm going to try to update really soon with this fic, because I have a long weekend, which means extra time to write!Review please!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto... T.T

Two Sides of the Same Kunai

Chapter 2

3 years later

At the age where most children would be starting to walk, hold their parent's hands, talking in full sentences, and cry when their toy was taken from them, Naruto was already walking and running, had no hands to hold, had a huge vocabulary of negative words, had a lack of the ability to remember names, and he cried over the fact that he had no toys to be taken away from him.

Naruto had developed better motor skills than most by trying futilely to get some one's attention. He had tried poking at people, pushing people, tugging on peoples' sleeves, waving his arms around, jumping in front of people... you get the idea. And he learned quickly how to get away before the villagers could flick him on the forehead, or say something bad about him. Which meant that he had to run quickly, to get out of earshot. Most villagers had decided to ignore the Fourth's request to treat Naruto like a hero, and decided to ignore him too. So, the villagers of Konoha acted like Naruto didn't even exist, unless he bugged them first. A child couldn't go around the village without being disciplined.

Naruto, being just a little boy, had no idea why they treated him like this, so he did the things that the other kids did to get attention. He watched them poke their parents' arms and the parents would turn and face them, with an annoyed or expecting expresssion, but they acknowledged them atleast. He watched kids hop up and down on square patterns drawn on the ground while singing a song. Villagers would look at them with mixed reactions. Some would look sad and regretful, some would look happy and joyful, some would just ignore them if they were too busy.

But mostly, he watched the kids at the ninja academy, and when they became genin, there was nothing but pride in the parents, and triumph in the kids. All around positive energy. Unless a child failed, well, then, there was disappointment, but mostly encouragement, and then determination to try again and succeed. But that determination was also rewarded with pride from the adults. More positive stuff.

So he ran to the Hokage's office, not caring if he crashed into someone. If he did, what would have happened is this: the person he ran into would look at him coldly for a few seconds, then pretend he wasn't there and say, "Oh, I tripped. Could someone help me pick up my groceries?". And if Naruto had tried to help the person (which he did once or twice), they would have said, "Ahh! A dog is trying to steal my groceries, help!", and Naruto would search for a dog and then only receive a blunt whack on the head while he wasn't looking.

When he arrived at the door to the Hokage's Office, instead of knocking politely on the door like he'd never been taught to do, he pounded on it loudly until someone opened the door. The Third Hokage himself opened the door, saw who it was, and he smiled slightly. "Heavens, I thought the entire building was going to come down!". As one of the few villagers who respected Naruto, and as the Hokage, he had provided Naruto with clothes, food, and a place to live in, and would continue to do so until Naruto could get money and do it himself. But not only that, he had told the village not to reveal to Naruto that he was a jinchuuriki and also hid the fact that Naruto was the Fourth Hokage's son, all for Naruto's safety.

"Old Man Hokage, I want to become a ninja!".

Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile widened. So, he thought, you're going to follow the same path as your father. You'll do just fine. "Are you sure, Naruto? Being a ninja is hard, both physically and mentally."

"I don't know what you just said there at the end, Old Man Hokage, but I really want to be a ninja!" Naruto's confident grin broke out on his face.

The Hokage chuckled and ruffled Naruto's hair, like a father would've done. "Just wait a bit, Naruto. Just a little more time."

Gaara, in Suna, was also three years old but lacked the motor skills that Naruto had developed, as the Shukaku and his sand protected him from any harm that came from the villagers. Even verbal abuse. Once enveloped inside a sphere of his sand, Gaara couldn't hear anything. The sand's protection was so absolute, it was soundproof. And if Gaara fell, the sand would be there to lift him back up off his feet.

The sand was like a silent partner, always there to help him up but restraining him in some ways. Once, when Gaara had accidentally gotten into one of his fits and hurt someone, that someone kicked him. Or tried to, atleast, because the sand protected Gaara. But Gaara had wondered what it would feel like. Would it feel nice? Would it hurt?

What did "hurt" feel like? What did "nice" feel like? Because Gaara had never felt anything physically unpleasant, when he felt something physically nice, it felt average. Nice things only feel nice in comparison to the bad things. So, basically, Gaara had never actually felt anything nice, not physically, nor emotionally. None of his family seemed to care for him. Temari and Kankuro had developed a childish grudge against Gaara when they found out he was responsible for their mother's death (while they didn't understand that it was actually their father's fault). The Fourth Kazekage watched him carefully, but he watched Gaara like he was an experiment, and Uncle Yashamaru seemed too busy to watch over Gaara.

The villagers also disliked him, mostly because of his fits, and the fact that he was a jinchuuriki. Unlike Naruto, he had always known there was something wrong with him. None of the other kids could control sand, unless they used their hands to scoop it up. And everyone just avoided him. Not only in hate, but in fear too. And they defintely didn't ignore him. After the first 5 fits that Gaara had, the Fourth Kazekage started sending assassins to kill Gaara, which all failed. But everytime someone was near by during the attempted assassinations, they would come over to observe calmly, as if they were witnessing the execution of a serial killer. Gaara could see it in their eyes. They thought that it was the right thing to murder this little killer child.

The only comfort Gaara had was in his ninja training, which had started when he was exactly 2 years old. Though it wasn't that much of a comfort, but it was the one thing no one scolded him about, because he was a unique ninja and no one could tell him that he was training wrong. After all, how did they know how a jinchuuriki should train? So Gaara trained, practised, and exercised his control over the sand for a year. And even the Fourth Kazekage had to admit, Gaara was going to make a fine ninja when he grew up.

Unless he destroyed the village in one of his fits...

All the more reason to continue the assassinations.