Chapter 9: Aloe

Naruto was back at the root headquarters, Danzo had a mission for him that could not wait till Gaara left. Orochimaru had died and Naruto and a senpai needed to go and pick up information Danzo needed from one of the nearby compounds and then destroy all evidence and persons remaining there. Danzo had promised that as long as he did the mission right and didn't hesitate Gaara should still be in Konoha when he got back. After all he couldn't have anyone suspecting that Naruto had been moved to Root.

Naruto left the village. He only managed to send a quick clone to the Dancing Willow to have his sisters cover for him before he was forced to leave. The hideout was a few days away so Naruto no Fox, as that was the mask Danzo gave to him, had to run at full speed with very few stops taken to make it back ontime. Fox found himself outlasting his senpai, Boar. He could run for longer because of Kurama supplementing his chakra when he started to run low.

It took them two days to get to the hideout on the border of Suna. It was another cave based one this entrance better hidden than the other one Fox had been in before. They moved through the tunnels silently killing anyone they came across per their orders. Boar led the way to the lab where the information they were looking for would be. When they arrived the lab was filled with tubes each housing a human or rather what had once been a human in fluid. Each of the individuals had various degrees of injuries and snake-like characteristics. The worst one had disintegrated limbs, and their entire body was covered in scales. Boar quickly signed 'kill the subjects with poison, I'll look for the information. Make sure to set explosion tags everywhere to collapse this place.' Fox was internally disgusted but did what he was told. Silent tears made their way down his face when he came to the tubes with small children still alive despite their deformities. He mouthed apologies to each wondering why the world would do this to a small child. He nearly sobbed out loud when he got to the one with a six year old girl with red hair and green slitted pupils. Despite what was done to her she looked at fox and giggled at the 'fun mask' he had on. This little girl was adorable and he had to kill her, he couldn't, he looked over at Boar hoping that he was busy. He wasn't, he had been watching the whole time. 'kill her if you don't I will, and Lord Danzo will hurt one of your friends.' he signed. Naruto looked at the girl in front of him again. This wasn't her fault, none of this was her fault. He pulled her out of the tank holding her in his arms before he administered a lethal dose of sleeping meds crying and singing a lullaby as he rocked her to "sleep."

The rest of the tanks were easy compared to that girl. All the "people '' in them were literally falling apart Fox felt no pain easing these people's suffering. After setting all the charges Fox picked up the girl he had killed when Boar gave him a look he signed "I want to bury her under the sky. She deserved better than this. If you want to tell Lord Danzo you can." Boar simply shook his head then motioned for them to leave. As soon as they stepped outside they both set off their explosive tags. Naruto found a place to bury the girl in his arms. A field with asphodel flowers, it overlooked a cannon in the desert with a beautiful view of the sunrise over the the distant mountains of earth county. "My regrets follow you to the grave little one. May your next life be more peaceful." Naruto said to her after he had finishedburying her so that she faced the sunrise.

Naruto wasn't the same after that mission. Boar had told Danzo just like Naruto knew he would. Danzo had decided not to hurt any of his friends this time but he increased Naruto's guard and gave him more time in TI to think about all the pain he would suffer if Danzo/ Konoha decided not to protect him when the akatsuki came.

Naruto had to stay at his apartment after that. The nightmares came back again but he didn't want to call Gaara for his promise yet. He felt too dirty after killing that little girl. He felt he didn't deserve it, so instead he wore his tighter fitting clothing around the house specifically his orange lace underwear, black fishnets and his booty shorts with a black tank. After all he put seals on the apartment and no one ever came to visit anyways. Kage and Kurama didn't see anything wrong with how he dressed but what would they know, they are foxes. He cuddled with Kage, read books on sealing and cooked some soup the closest thing he could make to ramen as his sisters didn't know how to make ramen.

Naruto would admit he was hiding but who was going to care, certainly not him. He was in the middle of reading his book when he heard a knock at the door. He didn't want to get changed so he just henged a clone into"normal" clothes and had them get it. Unfortunately his clones have their own personality and this one thought it would be funny to let the person in. "Gaara!!!" Naruto noticed Gaara was looking down at his outfit specifically his legs with the fishnets. " I was.. umm this isn't what it looks like Gaara. I'll go get changed now dattebayo."

Before Naruto could get up off the couch and get changed Gaara pushed him back down, sliding his hand along Naruto's leg. "Do you like wearing these Naruto?" Naruto was going to say no but when he saw Gaara's face he just looked down. "Naruto, they look good on you. If you like them then wear them." Naruto's face heated up at that and he had to shift a little to hide the start of an erection. "I have to go back to Suna soon Naruto. Akasuki is getting more active. I said I would help you with anything Naruto do you still want me to take your virginity?"

Naruto couldn't believe Gaara was ok with how he dressed. He should have known though it's Gaara. Gaara never cared when Naruto wore bright orange, and he didn't care about Peony being a Yujo. Gaara cared about few people but once he started caring about you nothing could change his mind. Naruto checked to make sure his privacy seals were up, " Gaara I need to tell you something before that. I went on a mission, on it I had to kill a little girl. She reminded me of you. Red hair, green eyes, and being guilty of nothing but having to die anyways because someone else said so. They made me kill her Gaara." Naruto started crying even as Gaara pulled him into his lap and held him tight. " I didn't want to but they threatened to hurt one of the people I care about. Gaara she was so little only 6 or so. She laughed at my mask, she didn't even know we were there to kill her. I held her as I killed her then took her somewhere else to bury her. I couldn't destroy her with explosion tags. Why Gaara, why do people do this. I want to live in a world where children don't have to be ninjas, where they can be a child who can laugh without worry." Naruto couldn't talk anymore he just cried and held onto Gaara.

Gaara made sure his friend was taken care of. He picked him up and carried him into the bedroom, before laying down with Naruto in his arms on the bed. He used his sand to bring them things a warm blanket out of the closet, a glass of water from the kitchen, a pen and paper so he could send a message to his sister. He wouldn't be leaving Naruto's side anytime soon. His sister would have to entertain herself for a few days. After that was all done he looked at Naruto who had fallen asleep in his arms and Kage who had snuggled into Naruto's other side. "Has he been hiding here since that mission," at Kage's nod he continued. "Has he been sleeping?"

"Not much he has been having bad nightmares, he has had them before though. Part of why he keeps me at his side when he is home. Naruto likes to cuddle it keeps the nightmares away or makes them more mild."

Aleo- grief

Asphodel- my regrets follow you to the grave