Time Travel Lovers **BEING REWRITTEN/EDITED WITH MAJOR CHANGES**

Chapter 51: Sand Tag

Training Gaara and working with Shukaku was anything but easy. The limited size of the apartment made for lots of meditation and chakra control practice with a little hand-to-hand sparring in rearranged living room. Needless to say, Gaara was going stir crazy in the apartment. Used to having free reign of what he did everyday made Gaara a free spirit in every sense. 

Gaara hadn't left the apartment in two weeks. Hinata and Naruto did their best but they knew they had to get him out of the apartment for even a little bit. The trouble would be how and where.

Naruto finally had an idea around midday.

"Why don't we go outside the village a bit? Not far but just far enough that Gaara can try to use Shukaku's chakra in a small portion."

Gaara paled. "That does not seem like a good idea."

Hinata twiddled her fingers while she thought but nodded. "It seems risky Naruto."

Naruto grinned at her and Gaara. "We'll be extra careful! Gimme an hour and I can even have an emergency teleportation seal linked back to the apartment."

"Isn't that way to difficult with your current chakra limit?" Hinata gazed at her husband. She believed in him but he still struggled with the limitations of their child bodies.

Naruto tensed but shook his head. "I should have just enough control and reserves to make this seal. I'm almost at the level I was in the second year of Jiraiya-sensei's training." 

He had been getting better steadily. Add in the two weeks of near constant mediation with Gaara and he had the resources but it would be a test on his chakra manipulation and his developing pathways to imbue the seal correctly. The single person teleportation seal, Flying Rajin: Level Two, was still beyond his abilities but he and Hinata could carry themselves and Gaara back in traditional Flying Rajin. Gaara couldn't shunshin yet so they needed the escape route.

Grabbing Gaara like they had during the assassination attack had been reckless. They had gotten back to the apartment in a long distance substitution which was risky since they had had to substitute Gaara instead of him doing it. They had gotten back to the apartment alright but the risks had been high.

The distance would be even longer this time if they went outside the village and Naruto was not going to risk it.

"Hina, you and I can share the burden of Flying Rajin Formation and get back to the apartment in desperate measures with Gaara. He needs to test out Shukaku's chakra and we could both use a good stretch."

Hinata contemplated his reasoning and eventually agreed. Naruto was glad and he immediately started working of the seal work. He had to tether the location to the apartment and rework the apartment's wards to allow the jump. It wasn't easy but he had improved so much over his old skills. Before they jumped through time he was still learning advanced seal work.

The marker for the Fling Rajin: Level Two was small but the base seal work that the user had to know and manipulate was massive. Minato's kunai for the use of Flying Rajin: Level Two were an extremely advanced technique his father had taken years to perfect. The Hokage Guard squad used the version Naruto was trying to recreate. It required the cooperation of the three squad members, but Naruto had to rework it to just have Hinata and him transport Gaara. He would have to mark Gaara with the linking seal and teach Hinata the technique. The big base seal would be in the apartment and would tether them there. Once he had this set up they could transport from anywhere, instantly back to the apartment, the longer the distance the more chakra it would require but it would work. 

The Hokage Guard squad tethered in two places for their seal. The Hokage themselves, and to a base in Hokage mountain. Naruto had worked on the seal that was tethered to Kakashi since he was the most advanced seal master when Kakashi became Hokage after the war. He had lots of help but he had the best understanding of the seal besides the three guard squad members. Now he was doing it by himself with still developing chakra paths and the incomplete chakra control that came with Kurama's seal.

He got it done in just over an hour.

Sneaking out of the apartment and across the village was an adventure that ended in Gaara carrying them over the cliffs and walls on his sand.

When they made it to the training spot the first thing Naruto did was ask a question.

"Do you know how to play tag Gaara?"

At Gaara's confused nod Naruto grinned and tapped the red head with a shout, "You're it!"

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They raced around the sand for a long time. Gaara using the terrain to his advantage to trip them up and hide away. The rules of, "No flying!" and "No clones!" were quickly established a few minutes into the game. They raced round and round, up and down the sand dunes even going through them sometimes in Naruto's case. The went until they were all parched and exhausted. Naruto retrieved water bottles from a storage scroll and they all drank. 

Gaara was out of breath. He had never done that much physical activity before. His legs burned and chest was tight but he felt so different. He felt happy and excited, like he could keep going even though his legs were begging for mercy.  He felt alive. 

They all relaxed in the sand, enjoying the warmth of the sun that wasn't overbearingly hot even with the physical activity they had been doing. Winter was coming and winter in the desert was unpleasant. Very little snow, if any, but temperatures got unpleasantly low. While not reaching the temperatures and conditions of the Land of Lightning's northern regions, the lack of cover or water to retain heat made winters unpleasant. 

Eventually Naruto sat up and pulled Hinata to her feet before offering Gaara a hand that the smaller boy took cautiously. Naruto smiled.

"Now let's do some chakra practice. We warmed up muscles and got the chakra flowing with our activity so now I want you to try and use some of Shukaku's chakra without letting him out. Okay?"

Gaara nodded nervously. His growing attachment and trust in the couple was strong but he still held the self doubts and worries that came with years of bullying and harsh words add in the remaining emotional scars from Yashamaru that Hinata was slowly working through, and he was nervous about trying.

He held up his fingers in the hand sign Naruto had showed him. "Here it goes."

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HIYA EVERYBODY! It's your crazed author here and do I have a story to tell and advice to give. First, story time. So, this summer has been a mix of lazy and intense mental hell. I've been taking college dual credit courses. Now I am a master procrastinator. Which means I can barely get anything done outside of a crushing deadline.  So taking three college classes at the same time has led to the reality of  every night from 8 -12 I am trying to scramble and beat the 11 and midnight deadlines. It is a fun life. So, Second, my advice -DO NOT TAKE THREE COLLEGE CLASSES AT THE SAME TIME, ESPECIALLY WHEN ONE OF THEM IS A COMPACT COURSE THAT COVERS 15 WEEKS OF MATERIAL IN 5!!!! I HAVE WRITTEN TWO, FIVE PAGE ESSAYS IN TWO WEEKS AND HAVE AN 8 PAGE ESSAY DUE ON AUGUST 2ND! My life has been torture. Fun news in that on August 6th I'm going on vacation to my grandparents once my classes are done to get a break before getting back into the hellhole that is high school for my senior year.  Working out a solid update schedule and getting somewhere with this plot will probably happen around the start of September. I love you all and have a great day! Also, would you guys be interested in a discord server?