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."
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