Chapter 2

Itachi awoke to find himself shivering. He sat up and instinctively looked for his pack. He found it a few feet away at the mouth of the cave. 'Wait a second… cave?!' Itachi stood up and ran outside of the cave. It was desert as far as the eye could see, except where a small hazy object obstructed the horizon. Itachi merely glanced at it, knowing that it was Sunagakure no Sato. He walked back inside the cave to find Naruto curled up into a ball moaning in his sleep.

Itachi smiled for a bit at the peaceful scene before hearing what Naruto was mumbling, "No… my ramen… paid… mine!" Itachi burst out laughing and Naruto awoke with a jolt. "Wha? What happened? Where am I?" Naruto rambled on like this before spotting Itachi. Naruto ran to Itachi and said, still half-asleep, "Itachi-onisan! They wanted to take my ramen!" Itachi smiled before responding, "Relax Naruto-kun, it was just a dream."

Naruto glanced at Itachi before smiling a big, goofy smile, which Itachi returned with one of his own, slightly less goofy, smile.

"Come on Naruto-kun. We have to get to Sunagakure before nightfall, okay?" Naruto nodded and climbed onto Itachi's back. Itachi picked up his bag and ran out of the cave. Naruto was assaulted by a gale of sand that went up his nose. Naruto gagged and Itachi silently laughed at Naruto's situation.

Later, they arrived at the gates of Sunagakure. The guards ordered them to stop and they did so.

"What is your business for being here Konoha shinobi?"

"I was in the area and found this kid, so I came to the nearest village, here, to see if he could stay here." One guard looked at the other, and slowly nodded. "You may enter, but only to leave the kid at Kazekage-sama's office." Itachi nodded and the guard led Itachi and Naruto to the Kazekage's office. "In you go, Naruto-kun, I'll be right behind you."

Naruto walked in carefully and saw a tall man with brown hair standing before three children. One was a girl with dirty blonde hair pulled into four pigtails. One of the boys had blood red hair and sand flowing smoothly around him. The final boy was the most normal looking one, with brown hair and black eyes. The tall man looked at Naruto and Itachi, spotting the Konoha sigil, and rounded on the Chuunin guard.

"What are a brat and a Konoha shinobi doing in my office?" While the chuunin attempted to explain, Naruto walked over to the three his age.

"Hello! What's your names?"

The blonde replied, "Temari"

"Kankuro-sama!!" The average boy said enthusiastically.

The red haired boy sniffed and said, "My name is Gaara."

Naruto beamed at the three before remembering, "Oh! And my name is Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Hah hah! Your name means 'fish cake whirlpool'! Hah hah!" Kankuro laughed while Temari giggled a bit. Gaara attempted a smile before abandoning the effort. Gaara noticed Naruto looking entranced at his sand slowly brought it around and Naruto stared wide-eyed at Gaara, his jaw threatening to fall off. Gaara backed away a bit before Naruto yelled, "Sugoi! You can move sand! You want to be my friend?"

Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara stared before Gaara recovered enough of his voice to stammer, "Y-yeah." Naruto screamed and pounced at Gaara, glomping him. "That's so cool! You're my first friend!" Gaara stood stock still before Naruto released him and Naruto turned to the other two. "So what about you?"

"W-what do you mean 'what about us'?"

"I mean… do you want to be my friends too?"

"If you're not going to pounce on me sure!" Temari said.

"Maybe…" Kankuro started to say, "But you'll have to call me Kankuro-sama!"

"No way! Uzumaki Naruto calls no one sama!" Naruto screamed before pouncing on Kankuro, or would have if Gaara's sand hadn't grabbed Naruto mid-jump. Naruto looked around and saw Gaara's sand holding him. "Gaara! No fair!" Gaara smiled a true smile and said, "I'll put you down if, you won't attack Kankuro. Kankuro, I won't have my friends call anyone sama if they don't want to."

"Then why am I in the air!?"

"So, you don't want to fly?" Naruto's eyes got big and started yelling, "Yeah," over and over again before the Kazekage said, "While it was fun watching you four, I think it's time I decided where to put you, Uzumaki." Gaara's sand unwrapped into a platform and Naruto hopped down. The Kazekage looked down at Naruto and said, "Do you have any preferences Uzumaki?"

Naruto thought for a bit. "Yeah, can I live with Gaara?" The Kazekage laughed while Gaara whispered in Naruto's ear, "That's my dad your talking to." Naruto paled and the Kazekage eventually stopped laughing and said, "No. But I can find a place nearby, is that good enough for you?"

"Yeah! Is there ramen?"

"Ramen? Of course! But not much, but if Gaara wants some too, I think that I could hire a chef that makes ramen and build a business just for ramen. Is that okay?" All he got was a questioning gaze. Itachi leaned down and whispered, "What he means, Naruto-kun, is that if there isn't ramen, he'll get some."

"Yay! ARIGATO!" Naruto yelled before jumping at the Kazekage and giving him a hug. A few minutes later, Naruto still hadn't let go of the Kazekage. Gaara walked over and tried to peel Naruto's arms off of his dad, but to no avail. Kankuro tried to manipulate Naruto with his chakra strings, but couldn't get a good grip. Itachi tried whispering tantalizing things about ramen in Naruto's ear, but failed miserably. A squad of ANBU tried their best to disengage Naruto from their leader before he turned blue, but couldn't. Finally, Temari walked up and kissed Naruto on the cheek.

Naruto abruptly fell off and fell asleep on the floor, with a small smile and a huge blush on his face, whispering about ramen. Everyone sweatdropped at this, but otherwise ignored him. The Kazakage turned to his children.

"Gaara, Kankuro, Temari. Take Naruto to our guest bedroom for the night." Gaara nodded and picked Naruto up using his sand. When they walked out the door, the Kazekage turned to Itachi. "Now, explain everything."

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Naruto woke up to find himself surrounded by Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. Gaara smiled at his awakening, Kankuro stayed quiet, and Temari, Naruto blushed a little at the memory of what had knocked him out. Seeing the blush, Kankuro howled with laughter. "Fox boy has the hots for our sister, Gaara!" Naruto's blush deepened and Temari's cheeks turned a light pink. Naruto was ready to tackle Kankuro but looked at Gaara first. Gaara nodded, indicating that he wouldn't stop him.

Naruto grinned and pounced, unfortunately however, Kankuro used his strings and pushed Naruto towards Temari. Naruto's eyes widened at his new destination, but relaxed a bit when Gaara's sand caught him and redirected him towards Kankuro. Kankuro paled and tried to run, but Gaara caught his foot with his sand. Naruto crashed into Kankuro and pinned him to the ground. Naruto glared into Kankuro's eyes and Kankuro wet his pants. It wasn't clear blue eyes that bored into him, they were red with cat-like pupils.

Just as Naruto was about to speak, however, the Kazekage walked in. Naruto's eyes abruptly returned to normal and he looked at the Kazekage. "Congratulations Naruto!"

"Huh?" The Kazakage grinned at Naruto's bewildered expression.

"You can stay here with us." Naruto's eyes grew as wide as a ramen bowl. "Yes!" The Kazekage smiled and Naruto grabbed Gaara and a blushing Temari and pulled them into a hug. Kankuro complained about not being allowed to join in but they ignored him.

The Kazekage grinned at the scene, but thought, 'Now I have another ultimate weapon in my hands, and a possible spouse for Temari. If she has kids with this boy, then his power will be transferred harmlessly through the generations of my family.' He then laughed silently at the very thought.