A/N: Whoa. I used way too many italics in the last chapter... The next chapter (which will be last one) and a possible epilogue will NOT be super fast upload (unfortunately). Because my four day weekend is over and on monday-thursday I usually don't get a chance to touch a computer, so T.T
Thanks for the reviews (particularly roo17, CuteLikeMomiji, and Gir101, seeing as they are the only ones that actually review), and to the other nameless people who read this. Oh yeah, to you nameless people, I wouldn't mind a review once in a while from you guys...
In this chapter, I tried to make Gaara's siblings more sympathetic, because in the last few chapters they were pretty rotten, weren't they?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I had to say that, because this chapter will have parts of the very first episode.
Two Sides of the Same Kunai
Chapter 7
2 years after the last chapter.
It was the day before the third (third!) ninja academy exam Naruto had taken, and Naruto was extremely nervous. And what better way to get rid of nerves than planning a prank?
That night, Naruto stole a few buckets of paint, and chose the bright colours. Yellow, Pink, sky blue, bright green. Then he stole a few empty buckets, filled them up with water, and ran around the house holding them until he could run without spilling any. Pranks take hard work, and practise you know!
~Next Day~
"Hey, Naruto! How could you do such a thing? You'll pay for this!" Two ninja were chasing Naruto angrily, while Naruto was obviously having the time of his life. They were going so fast, it was hard to see exactly where they were going.
"Shut up!" Naruto shouted back, while swinging around a bucket full of yellow paint. "None of you guys could do something this horrible, but I can! I am incredible!"
Prank # 2749: Success
The two ninja reported to the Hokage's office. "Terrible news, Third Hokage!" "Hokage!"
The Third Hokage turned around. "What is it? Is Naruto causing trouble again?"
"Yes! On the Hokage Monument!" "He's covered it with graffiti!"
The Hokage sighed deeply.
Outside, Ninja were still chasing Naruto, bouncing around on trees, and buildings, running in the streets. Naruto jumped down into an alley with a picket fence. He pulled up a large sheet, looking exactly like the picket fence behind him, and covered himself completely. The ninja kept on running, thinking that Naruto had gone ahead.
"Idiots!" Naruto laughed.
A ticked off Iruka appeared behind Naruto. "Hey Naruto!"
Prank #2749 Escape: Failure
Naruto jumped (literally). "What was that, all of sudden, Iruka?"
"What are you doing here, during class time?" Iruka pointed an accusing finger down at Naruto.
~After Iruka dragged Naruto back to the Ninja Academy~
"Listen Naruto. You have failed the last two graduation exams! This is no time for pranks, moron!"
Naruto turned his face away defiantly. Oh yes it is. he said in his head.
Iruka got more annoyed. He turned to face the entire class. "For today's class, we're doing a review test on the Transformation jutsu! Everyone line up, even those who have passed!"
The class groaned. "What!?"
But they lined up anyways. Sakura was first to go.
"Sakura Haruno, here I go. Transform!" She executed it perfectly, transforming into Iruka.
"Good." Iruka commented.
Sakura transformed back, looking like the happiest girl in the world. "Yay!" She exclaimed, while her inner self was screaming, "Hell Yeah!"
"Did you see that, Sasuke?" Sakura turned around to face Sasuke.
"Next, Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka said from behind Sakura. Did I mention that Sasuke came back to graduate from the academy? No? Well, he did.
Sasuke also tranformed into Iruka, and Iruka also said. "Good. Next, Naruto Uzumaki."
Before Naruto went up, Shikamaru complained. "Geez, this sucks." Ino decided to join in also. "This is all your fault."
"Like I care." Naruto grunted, and trudged his way up. "Here I go."
Hinata was watching him from where she was standing in line, and blushed. Good Luck, Naruto. She cheered him on silently.
"Transform!" Naruto said, and he executed his Sexy Jutsu. He laughed. "What'd ya think? I call it, Sexy Jutsu."
"You moron!" Iruka screamed. "Don't invent stupid tricks!"
~Later~
Naruto was scrubbing the paint off the Hokage Monument. "Darn it." He muttered.
Iruka was sitting on top of one the Hokages. "I won't let you go home until you clean all of it."
Naruto looked up. "Like I care... It's not like I have anyone to go home to." He shot back.
Iruka looked down at Naruto and thought. "Naruto."
"Now what?"
"Well, umm, if you clean all this up... I'll treat you to some ramen tonight." Iruka looked up at the sky and back down at Naruto.
Naruto was looking at Iruka with joy and hope. "Okay! I'll work hard!" And Naruto put his back into scrubbing and cleaning.
~That night~
As promised, Iruka took Naruto to Ichiraku Ramen for... well, ramen.
"Naruto." Iruka said as Naruto was slurping up ramen.
"Huh?"
"Why were you doing that to the Hokage Monument? Don't you know who the Hokage are?"
"Of course!" Naruto answered. He finished his ramen and continued. "Basically, those that receive the Hokage name are the #1 ninjas in the village, right? And among them is the Fourth. A hero who saved the village from the fox demon."
"Then why?"
"One day I'm going to earn the title of Hokage. And then... I'm going to surpass all the previous Hokages!"
The Fourth Kazekage was acting weird lately. The Kazekage usually ignored Gaara, and adored Temari and Kanukuro. In the past few days, he'd been doing the exact opposite. What happened here? Maybe it was that Orochimaru guy, who proposed an allegiance with the Sound Village to destroy Konoha. Gaara would've gladly killed him. He wasn't sure if raccoons ate snakes, but he was sure that the sand would enjoy that snake man's blood.
While Gaara was thinking about that snake man, Orochimaru, his father actually patted his head. In the state Gaara was in, that was the same as asking to be murdered! Gaara's eyes snapped open and outstretched his arm towards his father. It was knocked back down.
"Ah, ah, ah," His father said, wagging his finger. "Not when I have such brilliant news to share with you!"
Gaara replied by glaring darkly at him. There was also a hint of confusion in that glare, because does this really sound like the guy who sent 273 assassins to kill Gaara?
"We're going to partner up with the Sound Village after all. I just need you to do some things first, according to the plan, and then you can kill as many people you want in that village."
Silence from Gaara.
"If you don't do those things first, the plan will fail, and we'll have to punish you severely. Oh yes, very severely... We'll let you kill, but you won't be allowed to eat or drink anything for 3 days. If you try, the food will fly away from you. Like magic. Yes... Magic." His father sounded really creepy, even scarier than before when Gaara was a child. It was like he was a new person.
"But before that, we'll give you a little taste of what that feels like. For the next two days, you won't be allowed to eat anything. Yes, the food will run away from you, li-"
"Like Magic." Gaara interrupted, glaring at his father. "Sand coffin!" As expected, sand flew up to completely cover the Kazekage. He didn't look at all frightened. That made Gaara hesitate, and then the Kazekage wormed his way out of the coffin... Maybe snaked would be a better word. Snakes sprouted from the Kazekage's fingers, and ate through the sand. The Kazekage landed back on the floor, snakes still coming out of his fingers.
The Kazekage sighed. "They will hate me so much for that. Last time I made them eat sand, at least half of the ones I summoned died.
Gaara calmly used his sand coffin on one of the snakes, and let the sand taste the blood. Hmm. Shukaku doesn't like the taste of snake blood after all. Maybe it would not be a good thing to kill this Orochimaru. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have any blood at all.
"Ah yes." the Kazekage said. "My identity. Now you know that I'm Orochimaru. It's fine though, I think. I don't think you care. Just as long as you get to kill people."
And Orochimaru was exactly right. After all, Gaara thought, Even I wanted to protect this village and tell people about this, who would believe me? Who would listen if he said that the Kazekage was Orochimaru?
I'll tell you who! Temari and Kankuro of course! Though they were terrified of Gaara in his Shukaku form, the everyday Gaara was just a person whose life was ruined so badly, the only thing left for him was killing. And they knew that something was there in between them and Gaara, or else he would've killed them a long time ago (though they were still careful. No need to tempt fate).
When the Kazekage/Orochimaru left the room, leaving Gaara alone, Kankuro went in, then Temari. Kankuro put a hand on Gaara's shoulder and said, "We know. It'll be okay, buddy."