章 1441: 32
Chapter 32: Suna Siblings
It was early in the morning and Naruto was grinning to himself as he threw aside the curtain to his favorite ramen stand. Taking a seat at his stool his grin widened as the heavenly aroma of ramen hit his nose. "Oi! Teuchi-ojisan! I'm ready to get my fill and make up for lost time!"
Both Teuchi and Ayame came out from the back and one grinned while the other smiled, "Well look who came back from the dead. You know we haven't seen you for a while. We were wondering where our favorite customer went."
"Yeah, Ero-sennin had me tag along while he went to go bring back Tsunade-baa-chan, remember?" The blond clapped his hands together, "Now I believe I'll start off with four bowls of Miso, two bowls of beef, one bowl of shrimp and…oh what the hell, two bowls of vegetable!"
"Comin' right up!" Teuchi grinned as he went to make the ramen. Meanwhile Ayame leaned over the counter and propped her face on the butt of her hands, giving the boy who she had known since he was six a grin.
"So anything new happening Naruto-kun?"
Naruto clicked his tongue for a moment in thought, "Not too much…oh! I did get promoted to Chunin yesterday!"
"Chunin huh?" Ayame turned her head to look at her dad, "You hear that tou-san! Looks like our little Naruto just got promoted to Chunin!"
"I guess that means the first one will be on the house then!" Teuchi shouted back as he came in with a bowl of steaming ramen, "Here ya go kid!"
"Oh hell yeah!" Naruto grabbed onto a pair of chopsticks and with a shout of 'Itadakimasu' dug in.
"So what do you think you're going to be doing now that you're a Chunin?"
Naruto looked up at Ayame as he finished devouring his first bowl of noodles, causing the ramen waitress to giggle as she saw a few noodles hanging out of his mouth. He slurped them up before giving her a grin, "Well I won't really be a part of Team Seven anymore. Tsunade-baa-chan told me that she's going to have me gain more experience by moving around teams, sometimes I'll be with Jonin and other Chunin and other times she's going to have me leading squads of Genin."
"Does it bother you that you won't be with that Sakura girl anymore," Truth be told, Ayame never liked Sakura because of the way she treated Naruto.
"Not really." Naruto shrugged, "I got over her a long time ago, well, a few months ago. In any case there are girls a lot better than Sakura out there."
"You mean like that blond Kumo kunoichi who came here a few times," Ayame grinned a bit, amused to see Naruto blush. "She came here quite often you know, asking questions about what kind of person you were and what kinds of ramen you liked."
"Yeah I kinda figured you two were the ones who gave her that information," They were really the only ones who knew anything solid about him besides Sarutobi, who was dead, and maybe Anko and Tenten.
"Then there's also that girl with the buns, Tenten I think her name was right? You hang out around here with her quite a bit."
"That's true. But I don't think I'm in a relationship with either of them," Naruto got his blush under control quicker than normal. "Though I won't deny both of them are really cool to hang with."
Not to mention both are hot, He thought to himself, not sure whether saying that out loud in front of a girl was a good idea, after all so far most of the females he knew exploded over the simplest things.
'You just don't know when to keep your mouth shut is all,' Kyuubi's voice came up after hearing his thoughts.
'Hey! I'll have you know I've gotten a lot better at that!'
'Oh really?' Kyuubi grinned as she combed her tails.
'Of course! I haven't said anything to upset anyone in the past week!'
'What about Anko?'
Naruto shivered as he remembered how angry she was with his prank, 'That was different, she deserved it. And I knew what I was doing.'
'Yeah until her snakes tried to turn your balls blue.'
Naruto couldn't keep the scowl off his face, he could feel Kyuubi's smug grin as he cut the connection.
"Are you okay Naruto-kun?"
Naruto looked up to see Ayame looking at him with some concern. He gave her a reassuring grin, "Of course I am Ayame-nee-chan! Now time to tackle that ramen!"
Ayame giggled a bit as Naruto began destroying the next poor bowl of ramen that was set in front of him.
"Good morning Baa-chan!" Naruto ducked under the customary paperweight that was thrown at his head as he hopped off the window sill.
"Disrespectful gaki…" Tsunade muttered with narrowed eyes, "What do you want, can't you see I'm busy?"
Naruto grinned, "Yeah, because sitting here drinking sake is really hard work right?"
Tsunade gawked at him, "How did you…" She flushed as she saw him tap his nose and remembered he could likely smell the sake on her from a mile away. "Right well, what are you here for?"
Naruto opened his mouth to speak before he saw something that made him frown, "Baa-chan, did you know all the piles of your paperwork are in the wrong stacks."
"Huh?" Tsunade stared at him blankly, "What the hell are you talking about brat?"
Sighing Naruto created a Kage Bunshin that began rearranging the stacks of paperwork on her desk, "You've mixed up the stacks for mission scrolls and all the paperwork is in the wrong order. The first one on the left is where all papers on internal issues within Konoha go, the next one is for external issues like alliances and the third one is anything that the council gives you."
Tsunade blinked in a dumb manner as she watched the younger blonde's clone organizing her papers, "How do you know all of that gaki?"
Naruto shrugged, "I would often spend several hours a day here when I was younger, hanging out with Ojisan. When I had started announcing that it was my dream to be Hokage he let me help him file papers and what not. I was even allowed to pick out missions for teams on occasion."
"Right…" Tsunade watched the clone finish its work and go up in a puff of smoke, "So what can I do for you?"
"I was actually hoping to get a mission from you."
"You're very fortunate then," Tsunade smirked. "We have a surplus of missions available due to the state of our village after the invasion. Hold on a sec while I find you a suitable one."
Naruto watched as Tsunade rummaged through a few piles before finding one she seemed to like and tossed it to him, "You are the escort the Kazekage's children back to Suna and give the Sunagakure council the new terms for our alliance. You will be staying there until they sign the terms before returning. Any questions?"
"Nope, I think I'm good. So where do I meet them?" Naruto pocketed the scroll.
"We've actually given them a hotel room until I could find someone to be their escort," Tsunade wrote the directions on a sheet of paper and handed it to the blond. "Make sure you're all packed and ready to go, I want you to head out within the next hour."
Naruto gave Tsunade a two fingered salute, "I'll get right on that…by the way, Kage Bunshins really help take the work load off of paperwork."
Naruto left after that, letting his last sentence sink in. When it did Tsunade grinned, "I think I love that gaki."
She created a Kage Bunshin and had it start working on her paperwork. Meanwhile she grabbed a hidden bottle of sake and went over to the couch.
Temari flipped another page of the magazine she was reading as she sat on the couch. It had been about a week since she and her brothers were let out of jail and given a place to stay until they could be sent back to Suna. And in all honesty, she could not complain about being forced to stay there.
In the time they had been here she had finally managed to get closer to Gaara. After her and Kankurou's little brother had apologized she had been able to talk to him a lot more. Not that he really said anything, but he no longer threatened to kill her when she was near and listened as she talked. She was still a little wary of him, but her joy at finally having her youngest brother coming around overrode any fear she had from his previous psychotic disposition.
A knock at the door interrupted her reading and she looked over at her brothers. Kankurou was sitting on a chair a little ways away, tinkering with Karasu after he had been allowed to have it back. Gaara was sitting on the couch next to her, watching some kind of anime on the TV.
"Who's gonna get that?"
Kankurou grunted as he looked up, "Not me."
"I'll get it," Gaara stood up and made his way over to the door. He opened it up and blinked when he saw who it was, "Can I help you Uzumaki?"
The other snapped their heads over when they heard the name, remembering it from the Chunin exams.
Naruto grinned as he looked at Gaara, "How have you been Gaara?"
Gaara raised an eyebrow, the only sign of being surprised by the blonde's friendly disposition, "I have been fine Uzumaki…" he paused before remembering that it was polite to ask how someone was doing in return. "And how are you?"
"Oh you know same old same old. I can't really complain." Naruto looked over at the other two. "I'm actually here because baa-chan's given me the mission to escort you back to Suna."
"Really?" Temari asked as she walked towards the pair, "I'm surprised it took so long for her to send us back. She's been here for a week."
Naruto shrugged, "I guess she was busy doing other things, though I didn't really ask her. Anyways, how long will it be before you guys can get ready?"
"It should only take a few minutes," Temari said. Naruto nodded as Kankurou and Temari grabbed their scrolls and other equipment before he led them outside.
As he and the now former Kazekage's children made their way to the west gate the two gatekeepers, who Naruto noticed were the two who had henge'd themselves into younger versions of themselves during the Chunin exams, grinned. Walking up to them Naruto revealed his missions scroll to the pair, "Chunin Uzumaki Naruto with a mission to escort the Sabaku siblings back to Sunagakure."
Kamizuki Izumo, a man wearing standard Chunin garb, had brown hair with one bang hanging over his face and a bandana style head band, nodded as he marked the group down on the ledger he had next to him. Meanwhile Hagane Kotetsu, who was also wearing the Chunin get up but had spiky black hair, a goatee and a bandage over his nose grinned, "Well if it isn't the kid who almost cleaned out the entire Chunin Exams! How've yeah been?"
"And you're the pair who had used those poorly disguised Henges at the beginning of the exam to bar entrance to those who couldn't see past a genjutsu." Naruto grinned as the two looked a bit sheepish, "I've been good. Now that I've got my week long break over with from my mission with Ero-sennin I decided to get my groove back on."
"Ero-sennin?" Kotetsu questioned as he handed the missions scroll back.
"Yeah, you know Jiraiya. Big man, white hair, kabuki clothes, carries a large scroll around on his back." Naruto shrugged, "Ero-sennin."
The two gate guards looked at each other before shaking their heads, "Kid you must have balls of steel to be calling one of our most powerful ninja by such a name."
"Oh come on! The guy's a self-proclaimed 'super pervert' so of course he's going to get a name that's appropriate for him. Just like Tsunade's an old woman who hides behind a henge, therefore, her name is baa-chan."
The gate guards plus the Kazekage's children behind Naruto minus Gaara, sweatdropped at hearing the blond call two of the most powerful ninja Konoha had ever produced by such derogatory names. "I take that back kid, your balls must be made out of some kind of titanium to be saying stuff like that," Kotetsu shook his head. "Man if Tsunade-sama heard you call her by that."
"Who's to say she hasn't," Naruto grinned before leaving with the Sabaku siblings.
As the group walked away the two Chunin watched the blond go. Izumo shook his head before chuckling, "Well with his reputation I suppose we shouldn't have expected anything less."
Kotetsu nodded as he grinned, "And now that we've seen what he's made of I have no doubt the kid will go far."
As the group hopped through the trees, Naruto remembered his first escort mission to Nami No Kuni and had to thank Kami that the people he was escorting were ninja and could move quickly. However, that still did not keep Naruto from feeling bored as they traveled on in silence. And so, being who he was the blond decided to make conversation with the group, "So how have you guys been since the invasion? Konoha didn't treat you too roughly I hope."
"We wouldn't have had to be treated at all if it wasn't for you," Naruto heard Kankurou's mumble and turned to him with a grin.
"Actually, you guys can thank Yugi-chan for knocking you out. All I did was keep your attention on me," Naruto shrugged. "Besides that, had you guys not actually tried to fight me and just taken Gaara and left I doubt it would have happened."
"Yugi-chan?" Kankurou blinked as he tried to place the name to a face. "Wasn't she that hot blond Kumo chick who beat you in the finals?"
Naruto nodded, "Yep! I'm surprised you remembered."
Kankuro gave a lecherous grin, "Who could forget a fine piece of ass like that! Ow!" The Puppet user rubbed the back of his head and glared at Temari who had hit him with her fan.
"I suggest you stop making perverted comments around me Kankurou," Temari threatened as she held up her fan. "Unless you want to learn just how painful it is to sit with a metal fan shoved up your ass!"
Naruto chuckled a bit before getting a curious look on his face, "So how far is Suna you guys?"
Temari looked at him as she moved alongside to speak better, "If we keep going at this speed it's about three days away. Have you never been this far out of here?"
Naruto shook his head, "No. In fact I've only been out of the village twice now. Once when I went on a C-rank escort mission to Nami No Kuni, and recently when I had to bring Tsunade-baa-chan back so she could be Hokage."
"I can't believe you would actually call the strongest kunoichi in the Elemental Nations something like that," Temari shook her head.
Naruto grinned at her, "As I said to the gatekeepers, I call 'em as I see 'em."
As the day continued Naruto kept up a steady stream of conversation, mostly with Kankurou and Temari since Gaara was not very talkative though he did make the occasional comment. As nightfall came Naruto had the group stop and set up camp. He sent a clone out to get some firewood and catch some food.
While everyone ate Naruto noticed Gaara was looking at him. Turning to the red head Naruto decided to see what he wanted, "Something on your mind Gaara?"
Gaara looked at him for a moment as if debating what to ask him, "I was just wondering, what was your life like in Konoha?"
"You mean was it similar to yours?" Naruto asked as he took a bight out of his fish.
Gaara nodded and Naruto leaned back a bit in thought, "Well I don't know how bad you had it. But my life up until I made Genin was pretty desolate. I never had anyone to hang out with or talk to. All the adults hated me, and that hate was passed onto their children. I remember being kicked out of shops, or being overpriced for basics goods like food, not to mention most of the food had been rotten by several months. Most of the adults would glare at me as I passed them on the streets. In the academy, most of the instructors did their best to ignore me, never answering any of the questions I had, berating me when I got something wrong. If it wasn't for the Hokage and a few others who saw me for me, I probably would have ended up like you had."
Gaara nodded while the other two siblings stared at each other before Temari looked at the two, "What are you guys talking about?"
"He's like me," Gaara said, as if that explained it all.
"Like you…?" Temari looked over at Naruto. "Wait! You mean you're a Jicnhuuriki?"
Naruto looked at the blond for a moment before deciding to answer, "I guess since Gaara's one too I can tell you. Though I would appreciate it if you didn't inform anyone else, this is an S-class secret after all. Yes, I am a Jinchuuriki like Gaara."
"Which one do you hold?" asked Gaara.
Naruto gave the red head a grin, "Oh me. I hold Kyuu-chan."
"Kyuu-chan?" Kankurou questioned with wide eyes. "Are you telling us that Kyuubi, the Kyuubi is a girl!"
Naruto nodded while Kankurou looked bug-eyed, Temari looked shocked before looking smug, and Gaara just looked confused, "I didn't know Bijuu had genders…"
Naruto looked over at Gaara. "From what I understand they don't. Kyuubi is special I guess you could say in that she somehow gained a human form, which just happened to be female. I'm still waiting to hear the story on that one."
'All in due time Naruto-kun,' Kyuubi smiled within her seal as she re-read Icha Icha tactics, not like she had anything better to do at the moment. 'You still have to earn find some way to earn my respect before I give up more information.'
'That's not fair Kyuu-chan!' Naruto felt like whining.
Kyuubi rolled her eyes, 'Tough.'
Naruto sighed as he looked at the three Sabaku Siblings, "Yeah, she refuses to tell me anything about herself unless I find some way to earn enough of her respect that she'll give me the information."
Gaara looked at the blond in confusion, though it was hard to tell with his blank face. Naruto mused that the redhead would be a great gambler with that poker face, "So you get along with your Bijuu?"
"Of course; though I only actually met her recently, like a little less than two months ago. And even then it wasn't until a little over a week ago that we really started to get along," Naruto wondered how much time had passed since he had his beef with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, so much had happened since then. "Though, I suspect you can imagine my surprise when I wake up and see a hot vixen with two fox ears looking at me."
Kankuro looked at Naruto with an odd expression, "You mean to tell me that not only is the Kyuubi a chick, but she's a 'hot' chick?"
Naruto grinned, "Amazingly hot, the tails and ears just add an exotic quality to her."
'Now who's laying it on thick?'
'What? I just decided to try my hand at my newfound ability to charm women.'
'Nice try,' Kyuubi responded dryly, 'but while I do not have experience with actual flirting, I have been at this far longer than you.'
Naruto chuckled a bit before he paused at hearing a grinding noise. Looking over to the source he saw Temari glaring at him, "Is something wrong Temari-san?"
Realizing what she was doing Temari put on a sweet smile that Naruto could tell was forced, "No, nothing's wrong."
Naruto looked at her for a moment before shrugging her disposition off as some kind of thing women do. There was silence for the rest of the meal before everyone went to bed. Gaara surprised his siblings when he offered to stay up and take watch, claiming he couldn't sleep anyways. Deciding it would be a good idea to speak with a fellow Jinchuuriki without the others Naruto said he would stay up as well.
"So was it bad for you, living in Suna?" Naruto asked as he looked at the red head who sat a little ways away from him on another tree branch.
Gaara looked over at Naruto before looking back into the forest, "Yes. I remember the looks everyone gave me back in Suna. Unlike you, people had come to fear me. When I was younger I had tried many times to get the children my age to play with me, but because of my sand's natural defense they had feared me. It didn't help that the rest of the population hated and feared me."
Naruto could only barely make out the sad quality the red heads eyes took as he spoke, "The only person who had ever shown me any kindness was my uncle, Yashimaru, who had been ordered by the Kazekage to keep me from being a menace to others. But that ended when Yashimaru had been ordered by the Kazekage to kill me, feeling that I was a failure as a weapon."
Naruto was barely able to hold in a gasp at hearing that. It was now blatantly obvious to the blond why Gaara had ended up the way he did. If the Sandaime had ordered someone to assassinate him, he would have no doubt become a psychopathic killing machine as well, "Why didn't he refuse the order?"
Gaara looked back at Naruto, a part of him wondered why he was telling the blond so much, but another was relieved to be able to get this off his chest and he felt that Naruto would be able to understand. "He said that it was because he secretly hated me, that it was my fault my mother, his sister had died."
"That was when you came up with the idea of relying only on yourself huh?" Gaara nodded and Naruto leaned back against the tree trunk, "Well I can certainly see why you came up with that. If Hokage-Ojisan had ordered my assassination, I probably would have done the same."
The pair was silent for a while, each giving into their own thoughts before Gaara decided to ask a question that had been bothering him since his defeat, "Do you think I can be like you?"
"Hmm?" Naruto opened his eyes and turned to look at Gaara, "Like me?"
"Yes. Can I be like you? Do you think it will be possible for me to gain the strength that comes from protecting people who are precious to me? Will I gain precious people?"
Naruto looked down in thought for a second before giving his fellow Jinchuuriki a large grin, "Of course you will! All you have to do is work at it!" Gaara looked shocked, at least as shocked as was possible for Gaara as Naruto jumped onto his branch, "It may be hard since a lot people in Suna probably still fear you, but it's far from impossible."
The blond plopped down beside Gaara, "Besides, you already have three people who are close to you."
"I do?" Gaara stared at Naruto for a few seconds, "Who?"
"Well there's your two siblings for one," Naruto tilted his head towards the pair of tents where his brother and sister were. "They may have been afraid of you, but you can tell from the fact that they never left your side that they still love you."
Gaara thought about that for a moment. It was true, no matter how bad he had gotten or how many times he had threatened them his two siblings had stayed with him, well as much as they could. "I guess you're right."
"Of course I'm right!" Naruto laughed, "And then you've got me as a friend as well."
"You?" Gaara stared at him, and this time Naruto could see the surprise clearly evident on his face. "You would be my friend? Even after I tried to kill you and destroy your village?"
"I don't see why not." Naruto shrugged, "Besides it's not like the village was destroyed or anything, and you didn't kill anyone…" the blond paused for a second, "Well I don't think you killed anyone, you seemed far too busy with my clones." He shrugged, it did not really matter, "Everyone deserves a chance at friendship and happiness. Your Kazekage never gave you that chance, and I know how you feel. Therefore, it's only right we be friends. And besides, we Jinchuuriki need to stick together! Right?"
Naruto saw Gaara's lip twitch slightly and figured it was the red heads way of smiling. "I would like that Uzumaki-san."
"Good." Naruto stood up, "Though if we're going to be friends you need to stop with the Uzumaki crap. Just call me Naruto."
"Very well, Naruto."
A little ways away Temari had zipped her tent down a little bit and was listening in on the conversation. When it ended she crawled back inside of her sleeping bag as a smile made its way on her face, "Thank you, Uzumaki Naruto."
Back in Konoha Team Seven was currently doing their usual D-rank missions. They would usually do around two or three a day due to the fact that a lot of the village needed to be repaired. As the finished up and walked towards the mission room Sakura looked up at her sensei, "Kakashi-sensei, I was wondering why Naruto isn't doing these missions with us?"
Kakashi looked away from his book to look at the pinkette, "That's because Naruto is a Chunin now." He ignored the shocked look from Sakura, though he also caught the jealous look from Sasuke. "I'm surprised you hadn't realized it yet. With the performance he showed during the Chunin exams it was obvious he was going to be promoted."
"Does that mean he won't be doing any more missions with us?" The thought was kind of odd, Naruto had been a part of Team Seven since its founding and not having him here felt wrong to Sakura in some way she could not fathom.
"He will still do missions with us on occasion," Kakashi replied carefully. "However, because of his status we have him doing higher ranked missions."
Sakura seemed to accept this and nodded. But Sasuke had clenched his fists as he thought of the blond going on higher ranked missions. I should have been allowed to become a Chunin! Why is Naruto always surpassing me! Ever since we became Team Seven it's been like this! I feel like I'm standing still while the dobe continues getting stronger!
He held his neck for a moment as he felt the cursed seal pulse before the one containing it forced the power back down.
After three days of traveling through the forest Naruto and the others came upon the desert. The trip had been relatively easy and nothing major had happened. Naruto had continued talking with the three Suna ninja in an effort to get to know them better.
He had even decided to disregard his first meeting with Kankurou and start over, though he still made fun of him for stealing his sister's make up much to the amusement of said sister and Gaara, not that you could actually tell from the latter. With Gaara he would often talk about their past experiences as Jicnhuuriki. He had learned from the redhead that unlike Naruto, he did not get along with his Bijuu and that even as they continued talking Shukaku was screaming for the blonde's blood.
Naruto figured something was wrong with the seal, a containment seal, especially one holding a Bijuu, should be strong enough to contain it completely so that it could not harm the container in any way. Kyuubi had agreed with this as she explained some of what she knew about the blonde's own seal and Naruto offered to take a look at it when they got to Suna.
His conversations with Temari were a little awkward. He refused to neglect talking to her, and would often ask question about what it was like being in Suna and some of her missions. However, he had never forgotten what she had tried to do to Tenten. And even though he felt no animosity towards her, was a little distant all the same.
Temari found it awkward for a similar reason. Now that he was actually paying attention to her she felt bad about the way she had treated his friend, but could not work up the courage to apologize.
"Dear sweet Kami! It's so hot out here!" Naruto griped as he and the Suna trio ran through the desert, "How the hell can people deal with this Kami-forsaken heat!"
Kankurou smirked, seemingly finding amusement in the blonde's plight, "Can't take the heat?"
Naruto glared at the puppet user, "Of course not! I come from a forest! Let's see you change from sixty and seventy degree weather to one hundred and above!"
Temari gave a small giggle while Kankurou snorted in laughter, "I can't believe you kid, someone strong enough to beat Gaara is complaining about being hot. Suck it up; you're a man aren't you?"
"More of a man than you, makeup boy," Kankurou growled before Naruto smirked. "You of all people have no right to comment on my gender, seeing as how you steal makeup from that cute sister of yours."
Temari felt a small blush coming on her cheeks that no one but Gaara noticed.
"What was that?" Kankurou ground out, "You want to say that again!"
"Do I need to repeat myself?" Naruto gave an amused grin.
Before Kankurou could erupt Gaara interrupted them, "As amusing as it is to see you two squabble, we'll be arriving in Suna shortly."
Only a few minutes after Gaara informed them of that they had arrived at Suna's main entrance. After letting Temari deal with the gate guards they were told to meet a man named Baki at the Kazekage Tower. As the group made their way through the gates and into the village proper the first thing that Naruto caught was the looks of fear on the villagers' faces. He knew this fear was not directed at him, he could already see their eyes on Gaara as they backed away from them.
Naruto found himself disgusted by the people, had it not caused more problems he would have probably beat the shit out of them. "You know I don't know whether to find it amusing or disgusting," The Sabaku siblings turned to look at the blond as he shook his head. "Why is it that people seem to fear Jinchuuriki when it's others like the former Kazekage who are the ones that create them. It never made sense to me, calling people like Gaara monsters when all people like him are is a bi-product of power hungry fools."
Naruto had spoken the words loud enough that everyone around him could hear them. The blond took the time to note people's expressions, some looked disgruntled or hateful at the comments on their former leader, others had not changed from the fear they exuded of Gaara. But Naruto also noticed a few thoughtful faces amongst the crowd. With some doubt planted in the minds of some perhaps there was hope for some change.
He looked over at the Sabaku siblings and grinned at their shocked expressions, "Well, just stating my thoughts. Sorry."
The rest of the walk was silent as they made their way to the Kazekage Tower. Like everything else the tower was made of sandstone. It was a large dome like structure that was situated in the center of the village.
Within the seal Kyuubi shook her head at the typical Naruto action, 'You know Naruto-kun; that was a very kind thing you did.'
'You think so?' Naruto questioned. 'Well I just figured I should help in some way you know?'
'I know,' Kyuubi said as she thought about her container and his desire to help others. She knew that she would never help another for no reason other than that it was the right thing to do; it actually kind of impressed her. Most beings, herself included were very selfish. 'You continue to impress me. I think for that I'll tell you a little about myself when you come into the seal tonight.'
Naruto perked up at that, 'Really?'
'Of course,' Kyuubi's voice betrayed her amusement.
'Cool,' Naruto looked up and noticed they were entering the Kazekage's office. Showtime.
As the four walked in they saw a man with the standard Suna Jonin outfit, which was basically the same as Konoha's except tan and dark brown instead of blue and green, sitting in the office. He had a veil covering the left side of his face and dark black eyes. Naruto recognized him as the trio's Jonin-sensei.
"Baki-sensei!" Temari said in surprise.
Baki looked up and smiled, "Hello Temari, Kankurou, Gaara, it is good to see you three are well."
Gaara stepped forward a bit, "Likewise sensei, I'm pleased you were not killed during the invasion."
Naruto noticed the slight widening of Baki's eyes, the only sign of him being surprised. However the man was not a Jonin for nothing and covered it up quickly, "Thank you Gaara." The man turned towards Naruto, "I was informed by a carrier hawk that you have the new terms for the alliance."
Naruto nodded as he stepped forward, digging into his pouch and handing the scroll over, "Yep, here it is."
"Thank you," Baki took the scroll and set it on the desk. "The Council will hold a meeting tomorrow in order to go over the terms of our alliance but it may take a day or two before we actually sign it. If you want I can get you a hotel while you wait."
Naruto opened his mouth to accept the offer but Temari decided to interrupt, "Actually you can stay with us if you want."
Her two brothers looked at her in surprise. Naruto did as well, blinking a few times as he registered her words, "Are you sure? I mean I don't want to be a burden or anything."
"You won't be a burden," Gaara said. "I agree with Temari, and we have more than enough room to accommodate you."
Naruto scratched the back of his head and gave a grin, "Well if you guys are sure I wouldn't mind staying. It will be nice not being alone for a change."
"If that is the case then the only thing left for me to do would be to congratulate you three on your promotions." The three Suna ninja looked at Baki in surprise, well Kankurou and Temari did, Gaara just raised an eyebrow as usual. "The three of you did very well, and even though Kankurou did not fight his match we have decided to promote all of you."
"You guys know what that means don't you?" everyone looked at Naruto who had a grin on his face, "We need to have a party to celebrate!"
"Kaki narase sonzai wo
Koko ni iru to...
Arata na tabi ga ima hajimaru"
"Kawari yuku kisetsu no naka wo
Ikinuku tabi ni bokura
Chie to tsuyosa wo te ni ireta kedo"
"Nagareteku jikan no naka ni
Okizari ni shita omoi wo
Wasureta koto sura wasurete ita"
Naruto, Temari and just about everybody else watched in a mixture of amusement and shock as a drunk Kankurou and Gaara sang Karaoke at one of the local bars. Well it was more of Naruto being amused and everyone else being shocked.
The blond looked over at his companion for the moment and grinned, "How come you're not up there with them?"
Temari looked at Naruto and smirked, "Because unlike them I can hold my liquor. Neither Kankurou nor Gaara have ever drank anything before."
"I didn't know you drink?" Naruto took a sip of his sake, relishing the nice slow burn it gave on its way down his throat. He reminded himself that he would have to take the toad boss's offer of a drink when he summoned him the next time.
"I don't often," Temari shrugged, following her fellow blonde's actions. "But I have on occasion during some of my diplomatic missions. I was the only one that was usually sent due to the fact that Gaara was always more than likely to kill who ever hired him and Kankurou well…just look at him."
Naruto did and did not bother holding in the laugh that escaped, "Yeah I can see why you wouldn't want him on a diplomatic mission. Honestly with that makeup and cat suit I'm more afraid of him than I would be of Gaara."
Temari smiled, "That's just because you can beat Gaara."
"Maybe," Naruto shrugged. Honestly if they fought again and Gaara was actually sane he was not sure who would win. Plus they were in a desert now, Gaara had a whole country of sand that he could bury the blond under if they fought here. The thought of being buried under several thousand square miles of sand made him shudder.
"You know I don't think I ever asked this," When Temari was sure Naruto was paying attention she continued. "How long have you been a Genin?"
Naruto blinked at the odd question but figured she was just trying to make conversation, "About six months all told…well maybe seven now."
"That's it?" Temari's eyes widened a bit, causing Naruto to chuckle. "You must be some kind of super genius to gain enough strength to take on Gaara after only six months as a real ninja."
Naruto grimaced, "Please don't call me that. Unlike most geniuses, I actually trained hard for my skills. In fact, my training would probably kill most people."
"You don't like that title?" Temari asked, curious.
"It's not that I dislike…geniuses," Naruto grimaced again. "It's just that every year in Konoha some new 'genius' comes out of the academy. Seriously both Neji and Sasuke were considered geniuses of their year, and I kicked Neji's ass, badly I might add. And I'm pretty sure that Sasuke would not stand a chance against me either. Yet everyone thinks he's like the second coming of the Yondaime Hokage or something, though I think that's just because he's the 'last of the Uchiha clan'." Naruto ended his speech in quotation marks.
Temari giggled a bit, causing Naruto to grin. He looked back over at Kankurou and Gaara, sweat dropping as he saw the two were really out of it, yet they still managed to keep singing. "I think it's about time we got them off the stage, I'm pretty sure Gaara is actually scaring the villagers more than usual."
Later that night Temari had led Naruto to her large mansion as two Kage Bunshin were shouldering Kankuro, who was passed out from drinking, and Gaara who was still awake but muttering something about teddy bears. As Naruto's clones set the pair down in their beds the real Naruto looked at Gaara with a thoughtful frown.
'Hey Kyuu-chan, how come Gaara's not recovering from the alcohol like I do?'
Kyuubi yawned a bit before answering, 'That's because aside from you being a Hanyou, Shukaku's power is different from mine. Each Jinchuuriki comes with different abilities given to them by their Bijuu, Shukaku gives Gaara his sand shield while I gave you regenerative abilities.' She gave a dismissive flick of her tails, 'Don't worry about him too much, he will still recover in a few hours or so.'
Naruto nodded before he left the room and found Temari waiting for him, "Let me show you to your room Naruto-kun."
Naruto blinked as he heard the added suffix but was not given time to think on it as Temari grabbed him by the hand and led him to where he would be staying, "Here we are. This is where you'll stay until you leave."
"Thanks Mari-chan," Naruto grinned at the girl.
Mari-chan? Temari felt her face heat up at the nickname. Truth be told while Temari was considered to be one of the most beautiful kunoichi in Suna, she had never really gotten an opportunity to date anyone. While in Suna everyone knew her as 'the demon's sister' and stayed away from her, and when she went out she only seemed to attract perverts. Naruto was different, she could tell he was still kind of perverted but it did not seem to rule over him like it did most males. And he was not actually hitting on her; she could tell that for the most part his ability to make her blush had been unintentional. Because of this being around Naruto was always kind of awkward, though not always in a bad way.
She watched as Naruto opened the door and bit her lip. "Wait."
Naruto turned around and raised an eyebrow at the now pensive female blond, "Yes? Something wrong?"
"No I…" Temari paused before looking down, "I wanted to…apologize." She looked up and saw Naruto's confusion so decided to elaborate, "When I was fighting your friend, that girl with the buns, I was overly cruel. I'm sorry."
Naruto looked at her for a while and Temari began to squirm a bit. Being the daughter of the Kazekage she never really had to deal with this kind of thing, and had never apologized to anyone so she was a bit uncomfortable.
After a few seconds however Naruto merely gave her a soft smile, "It's fine, I'm not angry or anything. I mean, yeah I was at first, but I don't like to live in the past. Besides," Naruto grinned, "I could never stay mad at such a beautiful girl."
Temari blushed as Naruto made his way inside the bedroom she had given him.
The next day was for the most part filled with boredom. Because Naruto was something of an ambassador he was forced to listen to the Suna Council nit-pick over the new alliance agreement, despite the fact that everyone knew they were going to sign it anyway. The agreement would actually help improve their village far more than the previous one did; it made Naruto wonder why they were so adamant on arguing over the damn thing.
Thankfully Baki had told him that he only needed to be at the first meeting as a formality and that he would not be forced to sit through the negotiations after that.
Sometime after the first meeting Naruto found himself back in the Sabaku mansion looking over Gaara's seal. As he did a frown made its way on his face, "Well I was right, the seal while not terrible is far too weak and shoddy to properly contain a demon."
"So what's wrong with it?" asked Temari who was sitting next to Gaara and watching the proceeding events.
"Nothing," Naruto shrugged, "There is technically nothing wrong with the seal. Like I said it's just weak, too weak to hold back the power of a demon."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Temari looked worried, if there was nothing wrong with the seal then how could they help Gaara?
Naruto looked at her and grinned, "Well unfortunately because I'm not a seal master I can't do anything. I mean I could try, but the chances of me breaking the seal and killing Gaara are too high to risk it. However, Ero-sennin is supposed to be a premiere Fuuinjutsu master. I'll have him make a run by Suna when he's out of the village and take a look at the seal. It should be possible for him to place a seal over the one Gaara has now to limit the amount of freedom the Shukaku has in Gaara's mind. That would also allow Gaara to get some sleep since the only reason the blasted sandbag can whisper to him is thanks to the seal being so damn weak."
As everyone digested what Naruto told them, said blond took out several sealing tags, "In the meantime he can use these. Ero-sennin helped me make them for me if I ever lost control of Kyuu-chan's youki while training in it."
Gaara sat up and pulled his shirt back down before taking one of the seals. He looked at it before turning his gaze to Naruto, "What is it?"
"That my friend is a youki suppression seal," Naruto grinned. "Ero-sennin and I developed it when we were searching for Tsunade-baa-chan. What it does is forcibly suppress the demonic youki of a bijuu, these things can only go suppress about three tails worth of power, but for Shukaku they should work like a charm. Those will allow you to sleep until Jiraiya comes to check out the seal."
"How many of them do you have?" Gaara looked at the seal and everyone could see the small amount of hope in his eyes.
"On me? I only have about five, but I know how to make them so I can create as many as you want so long as I'm given the necessary supplies." Naruto clicked his tongue for a second before grinning, "Give me enough ink and sealing paper and I'll make a two year supply; that should be more than enough to last until Ero-sennin comes."
Temari and Kankuro looked from Gaara over to Baki, who, while shocked that this boy was so willing to help (Of course after hearing him call his Bijuu Kyuu-chan he supposed he shouldn't be), nodded. "I can arrange that. While sealing is not very renowned in this village we should be able to get the necessary supplies."
"I think I'm going to take one of these now and get some rest," Gaara stood up.
"Alright, just make sure to attach it to your skin, your Suna No Yoroi has to be turned off or it won't work."
"Thank you Naruto," Gaara surprised everyone by giving a small bow of gratitude before he left to get some sleep.
Naruto stretched a bit as he stood up, grinning in satisfaction as he felt his bones pop, "Well that was fun. Now I just have to wait for the council to sign that damned alliance, and if there anything like the floozies in Konoha that could take a while."
Everyone had a laugh at that while Naruto hummed, "So what exactly do you guys do for fun over here? I mean I would go out drinking again, but makeup boy was such an embarrassment the last time, what with being a lightweight and all that singing he did."
Temari laughed while Kankurou growled, "Hey! My singing is awesome! Did you see me up there! I was rocking the house!"
"If by rocking you mean the spastic swaying motions you were making while piss drunk then yes, you were rocking the house," Naruto grinned.
Temari covered her mouth to hold in her giggle while Kankurou looked about ready to pop a blood vessel. The blond Suna Kunoichi stood up, "If you want I can offer you a tour around the Suna."
Naruto looked over at the girl and grinned, "I would like that Mari-chan."
The pair of blonds found themselves walking around Suna with Temari pointing out anything she could of think of that looked interesting. Though, Naruto wondered how she was able to even see where certain things were since the girl currently had her head on his shoulder and her eyes were closed, it was like she had some kind of sixth sense or something. Not that he was really thinking too heavily on that, having found most of his attention on the girl whose head was on his shoulder and whose arms were wrapped around his.
That and the fact that she has my arm smashed between her pillows, Naruto thought, fighting a bit to keep the blush off. Really he felt he should have been used to this by now, what with all the crap he went through with Anko, and then the flirting that Yugito had done with him when they were together. I mean, I had my ass pinched in public. You really can't get much friendlier than that. Well I suppose you could, but…gah! Mind out of the gutter Naruto!
Forcibly suppressing the admittedly lewd thoughts that had entered his head the blond took a moment to look around. They had somehow managed to locate a park. Really it was just a basic kid's playground with a few objects of children entertainment like a see-saw, a swing and a small climbing structure.
"Oh, I haven't been here in forever!" Temari said as she let go of Naruto's arm and sat on one of the swings. She looked over at Naruto and hid a grin as she gave him a pout, "Naruto-kun, do you think you can give me a little push?"
Naruto blushed a bit, finding the way she bit her lower lips and bat her eyelashes to be absolutely sexy, *Sigh* Maybe Anko was on to something when she said any kunoichi would be able to wrap me around their finger…especially since I have yet to see an ugly kunoichi.
"S-sure," Naruto dutifully ignored the giggle Temari let out as he walked behind her and began to push her. This would continue on for some time with Naruto pushing Temari while said Suna Kunoichi kicked her legs out on the upswing. They stopped when the sun began to set and Temari got another idea.
Temari looked at Naruto with a predatory grin that made the blond gulp, Why do I feel like a antelope being stalked by a lion?
"How about we go out to dinner?"
A little while after that Naruto and Temari had walked around Suna until Temari had picked a place where she wanted to eat. It was nothing really fancy, just a simple restaurant that thankfully for Naruto had ramen.
As Naruto ate his food, using a lot more poise than came naturally since this could very well be considered a date, much like his time with Yugito, he looked up at Temari. "Hey I was wondering something?"
Temari looked up at Naruto, "What is it?"
"Well, I was just curious why you don't have a boyfriend," Temari narrowed her eyes a bit at the reminder. It was fortunate for Naruto that he had continued, "I mean, you're such nice and pretty girl I just found it odd that you wouldn't have one."
Temari's eyes softened and a blush stained her cheeks. She looked at him for a second and was surprised to see nothing more than honest curiosity, "What makes you think I don't have one?"
Naruto blinked at the question before answering, "Well, if you did, I doubt you would have asked me out to dinner. I mean if I was your boyfriend and saw you with some guy I would probably kill them."
If anything the blush that was spread across her cheeks became more prominent, but a smile came on Temari's face as she answered the question.
"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out," At her fellow blonde's look of confusion she laughed. "I'm the daughter of the Kazekage, a lot of the males in Suna are put off by that and even our shinobi have some issues getting passed it. If that's not enough I'm also Gaara's sister."
Well that explained things well enough for Naruto who nodded in reply, "The only people who have actually shown an interest in me were some of the sons of rich nobles and Daimyos that I had met and escorted. There have even been a few Daimyos themselves who have expressed an interest in me." Temari said the words expressed with distaste and Naruto heard a mutter of 'perverted old men' added on at the end.
"I suppose that would keep people from actually trying to get to know you."
"What about you?" Temari asked suddenly enough that it startled Naruto, "I mean, you were awfully close to that bun haired girl I fought and that Yugito girl."
Naruto blushed a bit before getting himself under control, "Well they're not my girlfriends per say…I don't have a girlfriend or anything; I'm just really close to those two. Ten-chan was the first friend my age that I ever made and Yugito…" He paused for a moment, not sure if he was allowed to tell anyone about Yugito's status before remembering that Jinchuuriki were looked up to in Kumo, "Yugito is like me and Gaara."
Temari felt surprise at the two statements. Though she now understood why Naruto seemed so close to those two. She had listened in on Naruto's conversation with Gaara when he spoke about his experiences, so of course he would be close to that Tenten girl as she was his first friend. And it made even more sense with the Kumo kunoichi, Yugito, since she could relate to Naruto on a level most others could not. "I suppose that makes sense. So you don't have a girlfriend?"
"No," Naruto shook his head. "I don't, but even I tried to get one there are complications that make it impossible for me to have a stable relationship with anyone."
Temari frowned a bit at the response but it was soon replaced with curiosity, "What could keep you from being in a relationship with anyone?"
Naruto frowned for a moment before leaning in, forcing Temari to do the same, "I suppose since you're related to Gaara its okay to tell you. I doubt you've heard since even Ero-sennin's only found out about this recently, but there's a group of nine S-ranked criminal ninja that are after the Bijuu." He heard Temari gasp a bit and nodded, "Naturally that makes my life even more dangerous than a regular ninja. We don't know what they want them for. However, a group of criminals on that level trying to gain that much power, you can be sure it's anything but good."
Sighing Naruto leaned back in his chair, "I could never give myself to someone else knowing that the chances of me dying are so high." It was not the only reason of course. There was also the fact that even if he did end up in a relationship, anyone he got with would eventually die, whether it be of old age or something else they would die while he would live.
Temari frowned sadly at hearing that, "That sounds like it will be awfully lonely."
"It is, but it's not like I'm just closing myself off. I will do whatever I can to make my precious people happy and that's good enough for me."
"Precious people?" Temari murmured in a questioning tone. She looked up at Naruto and blushed a bit, "Am I one of your precious people?"
Naruto looked at Temari for a few moments before grinning, "Maybe…why do you ask? Do you want to be?"
Temari just blushed while Naruto laughed.
Later that night Naruto and Temari walked to the mansion and, being the chivalrous bastard that he was escorted the girl to her room.
"Thank you for taking me out," Temari turned around to face Naruto and give him a smile.
Naruto smiled in return, though it was more of a sheepish grin as he scratched the back of his head, "Hehe, no problem Mari-chan, I liked spending time with you."
"That's good, I liked spending time with you as well," Temari looked down at her feet for a moment as if to gather her courage. When she looked up again Temari leaned in and gave Naruto a kiss on the cheek. She pulled away and smiled when she saw the blond shinobi with a prominent blush on his face as he lightly touched the spot where she had kissed him.
"That was for giving me such an enjoyable time," Temari gave him a wink. "Also, I don't think you should worry about those guys who are after you. You're one of the strongest ninja I know, after all, not many people can beat Gaara. So I know you'll be fine. Good night Naruto-kun."
Naruto watched as Temari closed the door to her room before a smile found its way on his face. Hot damn, what is it with these girls being so close to me all of sudden?
'Are you complaining?' came the annoyed voice of Kyuubi. She did not really know why, but seeing her container with that girl or any female really, gave her an unpleasant feeling.
However Naruto did not notice the annoyance in her tone as he spoke, 'Of course not! Who could complain about that? I was just wondering what it is I'm doing differently from what I had done in the academy.'
Kyuubi shook her head at how dense her container was, 'Does it matter? Now get to your room and come into the seal.'
'Yes ma'am!' Naruto made his way to the room they gave him, which he loved due to the fact that it was larger than his apartment. He took off his clothes and jumped onto the bed, not even bothering to get under the covers as he went into the confines of his mind.
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