Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the associated characters, locations, jutsu, etc. The only thing I own is the plot of the story. If there is any plagiarism of any form it was completely unintentional.

"We make our own monsters, then fear them for what they show us about ourselves." Mike Carey

The journey to Suna is tiring. Two days of constant walking through scorching heat and stinging winds. It takes a toll on anyone, but they had a mission to accomplish, and after a day and a half of constant travels they arrived at the massive dome that is Sunagakure. Sadly they did so in the middle of the day, when the sun is at its strongest. Th=ey were greeted by two ANBU, who without delay ordered them to follow. As they walked Sakura kept looking around the village, at how different it seemed from her own home but at the same time so alike. Eventually her gaze fell on an almost empty street, where she noticed two men walking slowly. She would have moved on, had she not noticed that one of them had bright blond hair.

Naruto? She thought as she walked towards them. However, as she took her second step she felt a firm hand on her shoulder.

"What are you doing out here?" She heard Asuma say. She turned to look at him, and saw that the others were looking at her as well.

"Asuma-sensei. I though I saw-?" She said as she turned to look again at the blonde man, but he was nowhere to be seen. Asuma followed her gaze and was puzzled as to why she was staring at an empty street. "Never mind. I-it was nothing." She said with a small sigh.

"Then let's go, the Kazekage is expecting us." She nodded as they once again started walking towards the Kazekage's office. They arrived soon after, and just as the door was about to close behind them it was stopped by a red haired man with black circles around his eyes.

"Gaara, you're late." The Kazekage said to his son.

"I said I'd be here when they arrived, and I am." He answered with indifference. The Kazekage decided to ignore him as he focused on the Konoha shinobi.

"I'll get straight to the point. Asuma Sarutobi, I shall speak with you in private. The rest of you can accompany my ANBU to an inn where you can rest for the time being." They were all surprised by this, but did not show it. Sakura, Shikamaru, and Lee followed the ANBU who was waiting for them by the door. A loud thud was followed by a thick silence, as Asuma stared at the man in front of him.

"I think you know why I called you here." The Kazekage said calmly. Asuma kept silent, but his gaze hardened. "Several years ago, a small division of Sunagakure shinobi took part in an attack against Konoha. And it is with great grief that I learned that the Hokage passed away during said attack." The silence on Asuma's part did not cease, but he was starting to react as his fists clenched. "There have been many rumors concerning my involvement in that ordeal, but I shall clarify once again that I took no part in it... But I believe I know the culprit." Asuma's gaze, that had been previously fixated somewhere else immediately shot towards the Kazekage. Noticing his reaction the Kazekage continued.

"You see, three days before the attack on your village was made, a man walked into my office claiming to bear a message from Kirigakure." While speaking the Kazekage pulled out from a drawer a picture man and a letter. Asuma picked them both up and stared at the picture. It showed a middle-aged man staring with expressionless dark eyes at the camera. "Although he was identified as a dignitary his coming had not been reported to me, so he was ordered to wait outside my office. I intended to search through the correspondence to see if any letters had arrived from Kirigakure that day, however, that is the last thing I remember until I woke up a week later, still on my chair." Asuma's eyes widened in shock at this. "No one else that had been present that day seemed to be able to recall anything about that day. Including my own sons and daughter. We had intended to question the shinobi that had gone with them to Konoha, but as it turns out they were never from this village. Any records of them entering the exams were falsified and their identities are currently unknown." The Kazekage said as he stood up from his chair and walked over to the window. The room kept silent for a few moments as Asuma though over everything he had heard, and stared at the picture of the man who was the beginning of all of it.

"I dislike boasting, but I do know that it would take a remarkable amount of skill to be able to incapacitate my personal ANBU, let alone myself." He said as he turned around to meet Asuma's gaze. "I am ashamed to admit that that is as far as we have managed to come in all this time, but let this be a show of good faith. Relations between our villages have been strained for generations, but this time we have a common enemy. Being the son of the Sandaime we decided to reveal this information to you, but you are to tell no one else... Inform your Hokage that I wish to have a private meeting with him. I shall head for Konoha in a week." Having said that he called for two ANBU to escort Asuma out of the Kazekage tower.

Gaara and the other Konoha shinobi had been waiting for a couple of minutes in a private room in an inn. There were several couches in which most of them were sitting down while sharing brief smalltalk, but the son of the Kazekage had instead opted to sit in the windowsill while staring out into the blazing scenery of Suna, his mind wandering to the events that had taken place mere hours before the Konoha shinobi arrived.

"You look familiar. Who are you?" He asked with slight curiosity.

"Uzumaki Naruto. And I have some questions for you." He said. Gaara didn't move, but the sand around him did, rising from the ground all around them. "Easy there buddy, I don't want to fight. At least not here." He said with a smirk, but Gaara didn't lower the sand.

"What do you want?"

"You were there the day the Hokage was killed. However, your father claimed that he wasn't aware of any Suna shinobi being in Konoha." Naruto said seriously. "There were lots of shinobi present, most of which were identified as missing-nin, excluding you and your brother and sister. Tell me, what the hell were you doing there?"

"Official reports say that you don't remember anything, but I find that hard to believe." Gaara didn't say anything and only kept staring at them both, much to Naruto's frustration. "Listen up buddy you better start talking before I-"

"Gaara!" Sasuke called out as he stepped in front of Naruto. "He knows." Gaara's sand immediately receded as his stance also relaxed. He closed his eyes for a second as Naruto stared perplexedly at them both.

"The reports... Are wrong." Gaara finally whispered, which caught Naruto's attention. "My siblings do not remember anything, but I do." An ominous breeze flew by as a thick silence briefly fell upon them. "It all began a week before the attack happened..."

The jinchuriki of the Ichibi was wandering around the village, trying to ignore the indifference of which he was victim every day. All around him the villager gave him ugly stares accompanied with hushed whispers. It was nothing new for him, but it still hurt nonetheless. He made his way into the market to try and see if that could help get his mind off it. He looked around at all the different stalls, all the different foods and knick-knacks that were so appealing to the occasional travelers. Seeing as nothing caught his attention he decided to leave. However, as he turned around to leave he heard one voice that stood out among the others.

"How can they let a monster like that roam free in the village? I don't feel it is safe for my kids." This made Gaara clench his fists in anger. It was certainly not the first time he had heard that, but that doesn't make coping with it any easier, if anything the constant reminder of everyone's hate only makes it worse.

"It's horrible, right? Having everyone hate you for being something you did not chose to be." He heard a voice say. When he turned around he saw a smiling old man sitting on a bench nearby. Gaara did not say anything to him, and his face remained indifferent but the man kept his smile up as if he were speaking to a friend.

"What do you want?" Gaara asked him.

"Oh I don't want anything. I just wished to apologize for the way everyone treats you."

"What are you talking about?" Gaara asked with slight curiosity, but mostly frustration.

"I know it must be hard for you, I mean, I've had my fair share of suffering myself." Oddly enough the man's smile never left his face, on the other hand it seemed as if it were growing ever wider with each passing second, much to Gaara's increasing frustration.

"What do you think you know of my life?" Gaara spat out.

"Oh no need to get angry, young man. I know I'm no Jinchuriki, but I too was chosen to be something I didn't want to be." This time the man's smile faded away, but his tone didn't sound angry or frustrated, instead he sounded amazed. "I spent years isolated from my family and friends, and no one else wanted to approach me. They all treated me like I wasn't human, more like-"

"A monster." Gaara whispered, to which the man nodded.

"And every single day I felt... Angry. Oh but not at the people, no. Being angry because they were afraid was pointless. It was only natural that they were afraid. Instead I was angry at those that forced me to be something I did not want to be." Gaara's curiosity only grew as the man spoke, his frustration slowly fading away.

"Do you get what I'm saying?" The man asked as the smile once again creeped up onto his face. When he saw Gaara's expression the man let out a small sigh before speaking again.

"It was not the villagers that made you into a monster. It wasn't your father either. You see, long ago the bijuu were terrifying creatures that no one dared to approach. It wasn't until one man came along, and people decided that now these creatures were to be kept as depraved pets, that your fate was sealed. And that man... Was the Hokage of Konohagakure."