AN: I forgot to mention a few things. This fic and the chapters of this fic are all from a song by Toad the Wet Sprocket. Also, I have always hated that the characters shout out the names of the techniques they use, so I'm going to just put the names in italics. They aren't going to be spoken. There will be translation list at the end of every chapter for the non-English words I incorporate.
Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Here are my replies:
IXLoveXGaaraXNaruto and crayoly-poptart: Gripping and interesting? Really? Thank you!
Tainted: Do you dislike Sakura? XD I want more information on the 4th Kazekage, too! At least a name! I wonder if any of the current Kages knew him. And you silly. Almost all of my chapters will end with a cliff-hanger.
Kathlaida-princess: I'd have liked it if Kishimoto had elaborated on how the seals were made and how they work, but it doesn't look like he ever will. But that just gives us creative licence. :P
Chapter 3: Swagger
To be a jinchuuriki is to bear the weight of the world's demons upon one's back. If it were simply the negative influence of the bijuu itself, the fate might not be so terrible, but a jinchuuriki must deal with other cruelties, the most vicious of which is perhaps the ostracism. A jinchuuriki is a leper with all of the fear and isolation but none of the sympathy. Bearing a creature that has murdered countless masses means that the jinchuuriki often becomes a scapegoat for the frustrations of those who have suffered at the hands of a demon.
To be a jinchuuriki is to weather the collective hatred and revenge of a callous society, and so Gaara, who had been targeted countless times in the name of vengeance, learned from a very early age that betrayal and revenge were very powerful negative forces, powerful enough that they posed a threat to his supposedly indomitable being, because while Yashamaru, his father, his mother, and even his siblings had not physically harmed Gaara, their collective psychological treatment scarred him as a child far more deeply than Shukaku could ever have done so.
It was his experiences with his family that enabled him to relate so deeply with both Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.
Gaara was more than familiar with the thirst for revenge; for many years, not a day went by that he did not dwell upon his own desire for it. This was in part due to Shukaku's influence, as the demon longed to slaughter the ones responsible for Its containment. But Gaara had also witnessed first-hand the self-destructive nature of revenge in Yashamaru's demise, and the jinchuuriki was far more interested in preserving his own life than taking his father's.
He had thought to bide his time until he was strong enough to eradicate the Kazekage, but in a shocking turn of events, the course of his life changed forever. In one fell swoop, his father was dead and a couple of children who had never even killed before managed to fight him to a standstill.
Gaara had, in a very real sense, lost everything that day, exchanged it all for something that would seem beyond insignificant to anyone who was not a jinchuuriki.
An idea.
"Naruto?" the redhead called again, frowning a little. He wasn't fond of repeating himself. "Will you come out? I would like to speak to you about something."
There was a rustling and a murmur coming from the area around the table. Sakura had warned him beforehand that Naruto had been abnormally quiet and terse with others of late. He would have to exercise tact.
"I came to aid Konoha in any capacity that I may. Haruno-san informed me that you seem unwell, and so I thought I might come to speak... with..."
The air suddenly seemed hotter. Gaara could smell faint wisps of fireless smoke.
"Naruto," he said flatly, unimpressed.
"Leave," the blonde in the shadows commanded. "Now."
Gaara hesitated, but Naruto's chakra wavered and then flared unexpectedly and he thought better of it. He gave a nod in the general direction of Naruto's voice, "I'll return when you're more amiable, then," and gently shut the door.
He hadn't thought the blonde would be so temperamental; it seemed that either his friends had not been concerned enough or Naruto's condition—whatever it might be—was worsening. The Kazekage sighed and sent a bit of his sand under the cracks in the door, ordering it into the nearest ceiling corner.
Daisan no Me.
Naruto's smoky chakra alone was cause for caution; if the Konoha shinobi hadn't had their hands tied with restoration projects, Gaara had no doubt that Naruto would probably be in confinement with this level of instability.
He swept out of the building and sought out Nara Shikamaru.
...
"What are you wearing, anyway?" Maysa' stared in disbelief.
"Auntie, it's the latest fashion."
Saad had something of an obsession with clothes, but his spontaneity and flair for the dramatic resulted in the development of rather odd tastes. He'd dyed his hair—again—and it was now a rich navy, but he was wearing—
"Orange?" Yakootah lifted an eyebrow as she rolled up a supply scroll. "Why orange?"
—black trousers and matching tunic with tangerine bright sky-patterned embroidery and an orange and tasselled scarf. The whole ensemble was still scuffed and torn from his fall near Suna's entrance.
"Whatever," he grinned. "Auntie's just jealous of my extensive wardrobe."
"It wouldn't be so eye-catching if your hair wasn't blue," Maysa' sneered at his thick, well-tended braid.
Saad blew at his bangs, only for them to fall back in front of his face. He rolled his eyes and tucked the loose hair behind his ears. "Like I said; you're jealous. You could never pull off anything but red and black 'cause you're such a sourpuss. But me and Re-Re--"
"Don't call me that," Yakootah said.
"And it would be, 'Yakootah and I,'" Maysa' said.
"Nags. Anyway, we can pull anything off, don't you think?"
"No," Yakootah said.
"You look awful," Maysa' said.
"Inti mafish mukh," Saad said.
"You foul little brat!" Maysa' wrapped her fingers around his ungrateful throat, only to find that he had armor under his scarf.
Saad's grin widened. "You suck."
"I'm done," Yakootah announced, sliding the scroll into the knot of the bow of the olive sash on her left hip, the tails of the bow sweeping the ground softly. She was fully armed, her signature gloves already snug on her calloused hands. "This took far too long, but I'll take care of that one. We shall meet in Tochigi-shi."
She vanished.
"I guess that means we have to get ready, too?" Saad grumbled. "Fine, fine. I'll go get my stuff."
His aunt reached out and clutched his braid, tugging on it viciously. "Don't take long; I want to leave within the hour. I feel uneasy splitting us up like this."
The boy dashed off, tripping over his ridiculous scarf. Maysa' slipped a few scrolls and other tools into the pouch clipped to the back of her belt, then put her face mask and bandanna back on and threw her brick-red wind cloak over her clothes.
'Fath is a flamboyant git. He'll probably take the whole hour to prepare,' she sighed, checking herself in the mirror. Black and red and steel gray stared back at her. 'But it doesn't matter. This is our chance, and he won't get in the way. As much as he's tried to hide it, I know he wants this as much as I. It is long past time that Leila Bint Mika'il Bin Numair Alzahabi and Fath Bin Fudail Bin Fakhir Abbas paid a visit to Konoha.'
...
Gaara found Shikamaru dozing in a sleeping bag. The former jinchuuriki eyed him for a moment, and then kicked him lightly in the side.
"Get up, you lazy ass."
Shikamaru grimaced, grumbled, and tossed his arm over his eyes. "Temari's rubbing off on you; I haven't heard you talk like that for years."
"I see no reason to be formal with you, nakimushi."
"Damn y-aaah-it," the chunin yawned conveniently. "I still can't believe your sister told you about that. I don't suppose you'd return the favour and give me any dirt on her?"
"Classified information."
Shikamaru chuckled and sat up. "You never do useless things; what do you need so badly that you've gotta tear me away from my favourite pastime?"
"It would be nice to like sleep as much as you do," Gaara commented, falling to one knee so they could speak eye to eye. "I wanted to talk to you about Naruto."
"Figures." Shikamaru felt around until his finger closed around a band and gathered his hair up in a messy ponytail. "Have you seen him yet?" Gaara inclined his head, and then leaned back as Shikamaru yawned again, providing him with a rather unpleasant view of the genius' tonsils. "What do you think?"
"I think he should be taken to my village for help as soon as possible. I want full details on his behavior before this point and your recommendation on who should guard him during his stay in Suna."
"Shino and Kiba," Shikamaru responded instantly. "They work well alone, better together, and they'd complement any other ally well. They'll also be more useful in that capacity than they are here; they're more suited for missions than restoration.
"As far as Naruto goes... his attitude went downhill pretty fast. We thought it was normal because of that mess with Sasuke; Naruto'd been pretty down for a while. But then he started getting troublesome," and here Shikamaru smirked, "You know, kinda like your sister. Bitchy."
Gaara glowered at him.
"A-anyway, Sakura and I tried to snap him out of it. I bugged him more than Sakura since she's been pretty down herself, and yesterday I guess I went too far." Shikamaru scowled. "He started muttering to himself about four days ago and I realized he was probably talking with that thing, so I asked him about it. He got pissed off and nailed my shoulder with that red chakra; I needed burn treatment." He laughed hollowly. "Thought I was gonna die at first."
Gaara felt a bit disconcerted. Naruto's insistence that Gaara leave might have been due to his inability to stave off the Kyubi's influence, but if Naruto was talking to the demon out loud, it meant that everyone within a hundred leagues of Konoha was in peril. Gaara had only ever physically spoken to Shukaku when he was particularly murderous.
The sky was starting to brighten, and Gaara's eyes flickered. He could now see Naruto with Daisan no Me, but the Hokage was asleep, collapsed over his desk.
"That is all, then," he said, getting back to his feet. "Does Konoha require any more assistance from Suna?"
Shikamaru waved his hand lazily. "You've done enough. Without you guys, someone else would have wiped us off the face of the planet by now. You know, Kazekage-sama," he mused. "You really got slick. One Hell of a leader, and diplomat, for that matter. You should be proud."
Gaara didn't know what to say to that, so he simply nodded his head in acknowledgment and wandered off to find Aburame Shino.
...
"You are an embarrassment."
"But it's Saturday, Auntie! See? It's way past midnight and this is my Saturday outfit!"
"I hate you."
"Whatever. I look badass."
"Identification, please?" the guard at the mouth of the canyon asked politely, and then his eyes widened a little as he got a better look at the mismatched pair before him.
The girl was only an inch or two taller than the boy, and she was dressed as if she were headed out on an S-rank mission. But the boy stood resplendent in what looked like a costume for a comedy. He swaggered up to the guard in a black and white long-sleeved shirt, over which was thrown a royal blue coat bordered with gold kanji. The coat's neck was clasped tightly around his throat. A small crossbow and a string of scrolls were clipped to golden tasseled ropes that served as the boy's belt.
He was wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night.
"Fuck!" the boy said. "Do you have the papers?"
"Yes." The girl's gray eyes crinkled into an out of place smile. "Give me a moment."
"Wanna see a card trick?" the boy offered as his companion rummaged through the pouch strapped to the back of her waist.
"Um," the guard said, but the boy had already whipped a deck of cards tied together with a silver ribbon out of his coat sleeve. The cards were shuffled, and then spread out and held towards the guard.
"This is really cool. Pick one and look at it veeeery carefully, then take the deck and reshuffle. I'll close my eyes so I can't cheat, okay?"
The guard shrugged, and pulled out a card at random. Four of—
He fell to the ground, dead.
"Maaan," Saad whined. "Now my deck's incomplete."
...
Rock Lee halted for a moment and uncapped a bottle of water. Regardless of the cold night, hydration was vital, and now really wasn't the time to try and break his personal record for the Suna to Konoha sprint. He was already out of the harsher desert and now stood at the foot of a large hill covered in tinder-dry grass, so a break would hardly hurt. He tipped the bottle back and swallowed.
Doton: Yari Wa.
Lee threw himself upwards instinctively as the earth around him molded into a dozen spears that lunged at his body. He landed some five meters away, his water abandoned.
"Not bad," a woman's voice said at his ear, "but this is the end."
Steel flashed in the corner of his eye and he ducked down and to the right, grabbed the arm of his attacker, and flipped up over her head.
A bright spring green registered in his mind.
"You!" he exclaimed. "Why are you attacking me? Suna and Konoha are allies!"
"Why I am attacking you is irrelevant," Yakootah pointed out as she struck out with an arm laced with long, frosted blades. "It should be enough that I am attacking you."
She was armed with long, bladed gloves the likes of which Lee had never seen. One blade protruded beneath and to the side of each pinkie down past the wrist and ended seven centimeters from her elbow. Blades were secured with bands around each wrist that wrapped into her palms and wound between her fingers. The bands were tipped with four centimeter length blades for punching.
Yakootah sliced at him with the outermost blade and used the momentum to crouch and kick back. Only then did Lee see that matching seven centimeter length blades protruded from the back of each ankle on her close-toed boots.
Dark brown leggings. Lime green halter top. Aside from the underlying mesh shirt, the bow at her left hip, and her and hitai-ate, she looked nothing like any Suna shinobi Lee had ever seen.
He frowned and drew a kunai.
...
"Naruto, please come out."
...
"I'm so worried about you."
...
"I don't want to lose you, too."
...
"Naruto."
...
The sun's rays had just touched the carved visage of the first Hokage when Gaara noticed Naruto was acting odd via Daisan no Me. The blonde was glaring at the door, and every once and awhile he appeared to shout at it.
Gaara murmured a hasty, "Would you excuse me?" at Inuzuka Kiba and then rushed off with Suna Shunshin, but too late. He watched as bubbling red chakra burst out of Naruto's body and twisted the Hokage's features into a terrible snarl, and while Gaara's jutsu could not pick up sound, he and everyone else in Konoha heard Naruto's shriek of rage. The room exploded and Gaara lost control of his visual jutsu.
He arrived in time to see the demonic red mass that was Uzumaki Naruto fleeing westwards into the forest.
"Shit." Gaara swore quietly. They should have contacted him before Naruto's condition had so horrifically deteriorated. He burst into the now smoking building to find Sakura stuck to the wall like a beetle on a card, one of the desk's legs piercing the right side of her gut. "Shit!"
Translations:
Daisan no Me – Third Eye.
Inti Mafish Much – Arabic - You have no brains.
Tochigi-shi – Name of a town I made up.
Leila Bint Mika'il Bin Numair Alzahabi – Arabic – Leila, daughter of Mika'il, son of Numair. Family name is Alzahabi.
Fath Bin Fudail Bin Fakhir Abbas – Arabic – Fath, son of Fudail, son of Fakhir. Family name is Abbas.
Nakimushi – Crybaby. Lol.
Doton: Yari Wa – Earth Release: Spear Ring.
Suna Shunshin – Sand Body Flicker.
AN: Blaaaaah. I stabbed Sakura.
Okay, this chapter turned out a bit differently than I thought it would, but I think it's all right.
I'm going to clarify something really quickly; my three OCs are using aliases. That is why they refer to each other by different names in their thoughts.
Now, back to the chapter. I'm not showing much of Naruto on purpose. There will be a lot more of him in the upcoming chapters, I promise. I know it's frustrating to you NarutoxGaara fans, but I need to establish the plot! There must be plot establishment!
Next, Shikamaru. Not my favorite character, but I love his interactions with other characters. Shikamaru's the type of guy who can get anyone relaxed around him, I think.
Gaara may seem a little OoC here, but keep in mind that we haven't really seen much of him after the time-skip and we do know that he's a lot more cheerful- well, for Gaara, anyway. Considering that he seems to be much closer to his siblings, I decided to portray him as having their personalities rub off on him a bit. Also, Shikamaru seemed quite familiar with Temari, so I figured it was reasonable to assume that at the very least, Temari has talked to her team about him. Blah, blah, blah.
If you can't tell, Saad/Fath is my favorite of the OCs I've made.
A note on their true names. I gave them Arabic names for a reason which I'll elaborate on later. It literally took me HOURS to come up with their names. I suggest you look up the 'Arabic name' page on Wikipedia if you're interested.
I'll be posting the meanings of their names and their lineages later on.
Feedback- particularly on what you think of my portrayals of the characters- is more than welcome.