"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.
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