Starting over

#3 Gaara

Naruto POV

At Suna's gates stood two guards who were instantly ready for an attack when I landed in front of them. I held my hands up and deactivated my bijuu-mode, before stepping up to them. "Halt! State your business!", the right one demanded. "Dude, he's just a kid.", his comrade said, taking a step towards me. "That's alright, after all I could be someone in a Henge of some sort. I want to request citizenship in Suna and possibly enroll into the academy.", I say , surprising the two of them and. "Ahm, sure, you have to talk to the Kazekage for that. I'll take you to him. Yuura, I'll be back in twenty minutes, don't destroy everything while I'm away.", he says to his partner and then signals me to follow him, as he moves past the thick sandstone walls that surround Sunagakure.

As we got to the Kazekage's tower, Rasa, the fourth Kazekage, was in a meeting so I got to wait in a small room. I sat there when a man came in and took a seat next to me. "So, I heard that you want to become a shinobi in Sunagakure.", he said, trying to start a conversation with me. I looked at the blonde man confused. "Yes I would like to. But I don't see how that concerns you, as you are not the Kazekage.", I answer and close my eyes. "Well you see, I'm the brother of the current Kazekage, so I could maybe pull a few strings to help you obtain your citizenship a bit faster.", he explains. I look at him surprised. "So you are Yashamaru. And why are you not in the meeting right now, i figured that as the Kazekages brother you would be at least one of his advisers?", I asked Yashamaru who just gaped at me. "How do you know my name?", he asked confused. I ignored him as the door to the Kazekages door opened and at least ten people walked out. The Kazekage himself looked outside, saw his brother and me and sighed. "Yashamaru, please come back in a bit. Naruto come in.", he says and goes back into his office.

"So, where do you come from Naruto ?", the Kazekage asked when I sat down in the chair in front of his desk. "I'm originally from Konoha.", I answered. "Ok, and why did you leave from there?", he wanted to know. "Actually I got banished for harming a villager.", I said kinda embarrassed. Rasa was speechless. "That seems to be a harsh sentence especially for a child not older than nine years.", he stated shocked. "Well actually i'm six. But the council always hated me because I am the Jinchuuriki of the nine-tailed fox, which attacked Konoha six years ago. So yeah.", I explained. "And they let you go without precautions?", he asked cautious. "Well they had put a chakra seal on me, but I already disabled it.", I said. The fourth Kazekage looked at me confused. "How did you do that?", he demanded to know. "Well I know a lot about seals and I got a little help from the Kyuubi.", I said, hoping he would ask me to help Gaara with his seal. "How do you know about seals, you're not even old enough to be enrolled into the academy!", Rasa practically screamed at me. "I had a lot of time to read the books in the library when they would lock me in there, and that was the topic that intrigued me the most.", I clarified.

After some more soft interrogation Rasa agreed to letting me stay , but said that he had to talk to his advisers to see if I could get a appartment and he also refused to enroll me into the academy because of my age. Apparently Suna had an age restriction when it came to becoming a shinobi. I didn't want to argue with the Kazekage so I didn't say anything against it.

Now I sat on top of the walls that shielded Sunagakure from the violent sandstorms that often appeared in the desert. I watched the sunset and tried not to compare my situation right now to my situation in the other timeline when I was six years old. Thinking about the beatings I received back then reminded me of Gaara and that his situation is the same in this village. I also remembered that he had insomnia because of an error in his seal. I knew I could help him so I went to find him. Even without the Kazekages consent I could make Gaara's life a bit better and therefore make the village a bit less hateful towards him. It even would diminish the chances of Gaara losing control over Shukaku and enabling him to possibly befriend the giant tanuki. I got up and searched every rooftop I could see, because Gaara once told me that he would always watch the stars at night. I finally found him on a far away rooftop sitting against what seemed to be an stairway-exit. I jumped over the rooftops to him when I saw a shinobi sneaking up on the redhead. I sped up and got to Gaara before the other ninja made a move. Gaara stared blankly at me with a crazed look on his face. "Mother is afraid of you.", he says confused and slightly scared. Just then a barrage of kunai was thrown at us.

I pushed a lot of chakra into my hand and expelled it creating a large gust of wind that blew away all the Kunai. Gaara stared at the enemy, while the unknown shinobi gaped at me. "Yashamaru, you can come out now.", I called into the shadows, having recognized the chakra signature of the Kazekage's brother. Gaara became wide eyed as his uncle stepped into our sight. "You don't have to do this Yashamaru.", I said, trying to convince him that he didn't have to do the things his brother had told him to. He just looked sadly at me and raised a Kunai.

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Happy Easter! 

Peace ; Gleam-eyes