Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Unkown ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, so don't waist your time and money suing me.

Rated: PG-13

Pairings: You're gonna have to read and find out….

"Blah" Speech

`Blah' Thought

"Blah" Demon Speech

`Blah' Demon Thoughts

Chapter One

The sun was only now beginning to set, orange and pink hues intermixing with the late afternoon sky, casting a yellow luminescence about the village of Konohagakure. The inhabitance of the village crowding the streets; late shopping or errands to be done. Among the many people that populated the streets was a blonde haired, blue eyed teen with a bright orange attire, merrily weaving his way down the street where the paved paths converted to dirt roads. The boy, seemingly knowing where he was going, turned right onto another path which lead into a forest used by few shinobi for training. The boy smiled, increasing his steady pace into that of a light jog until a large wall came into view. Stopping short of the wall, the boys expression changed somewhat as he glance right and left wearily, then smiled again and shifted his gaze towards the wall.

He raised his hands slightly up to his chest and quickly began performing seals. `Ox, boar, dog…' with that, he placed his left palm to the wall, murmuring: "Hirake Ru." Seconds passed, and slowly the wall beneath his palm began to disintegrate, widening until it was large enough for him to step through. He smirked, then mumbled: "Owa Ru." The wall behind him re-closed, returning to normal.

"You're not as stupid as you look… you actually manage to remember." A cold voice above him stated, a slightly amused tone entering his voice. The blonde glanced above himself, to a tree just a few feet away, and grinned.

"I thought I'd find you here!" the blonde exclaimed, pointing a finger upwards in the direction of the other.

A small gust of wind was heard from above, before a small whirlwind of sand appeared before the blonde, no more than ten feet away from him. A boy, with unruly scarlet locks, and unnerving emerald orbs, thickly outlined in black, stood before the him, staring at him in an amused and irritated expression; the of course, the blonde could only tell from knowing the other so well.

"Why do you think I taught you that jutsu, Naruto? It's not like I can just waltz into Konoha." The boy asked the other, Naruto, frowning slightly. Naruto broke into a grin, chuckling slightly.

"You waltz?" he teased, flashing the other a vulpine grin when he only received a glare. "Fine, fine. Jeez Gaara, lighten up, it was just a joke." Naruto raised his arms over his head, stretching his arms to it limits and yawned before adding in a mocking voice: "Did wittle Gaawa wake up on the wong side of the bed this morning?"

Gaara twitched, aware that if this had been four years ago, he would have killed the boy in front of him. However, the idiot in front of him was his friend, his only friend; his best friend. So as it seemed, he couldn't really go and kill the little bastard, and instead he opted for beating the shit out of him during training. `Yes, that will just have to do.'

"Uzamaki, you're a moron. Now hurry up and get your lazy ass over here and hurry up." Gaara stated with a growl, turning his back to Naruto and walking away in the opposite direction. Naruto smirked at how easily he could anger his friend, a started off after the other.

"So," he began, catching up to Gaara. "Where are we going?"

Gaara almost fell over in shock, eyes widening as he turned to Naruto with an incredulous look. "Fucking damn Naruto, you can't really be this stupid?! Don't you know what today is?!" Gaara practically screamed, causing Naruto to wince.

Naruto blinked, surprised at the outburst, well not really. Gaara did that a lot nowadays. His brows furrowed as he began to think. `Today… today… today is…"

He smiled suddenly, stopping in his tracks. "Today's my birthday!" he exclaimed, beaming as he began walking again.

Gaara nodded, sighing in annoyance. "And what have we been doing for the last three years for your birthday?" he asked, as if talking to a child.

Naruto though for a moment. Then smiled. "Oh yeah, we go to Sand and Temari-san cooks up a big feast and then me and you train."

"You and I." Gaara corrected him. "And yes, that is correct."

They continue towards the Sand Village in silence, not that either of them minded. It was a comfortable silence, they were always comfortable around each other. Naruto saw Gaara as the brother he never had, and Gaara saw Naruto as the friend he never had. Although Naruto and Gaara had not left on good terms with each other during the Chunnin exam. After a mission to the Sand with his teammates, Naruto and Gaara had gradually become close friends. They understood each other, knew each others pain, and in the end, they had been able to change each other; for the best.

Naruto had matured due to Gaara. He was no longer loud and obnoxious, constantly seeking attention. He got plenty of attention from the three Sand siblings and his old academy teacher Iruka, who he thought of as family. And it was true. Gaara, Kankuro and Iruka were like his brothers, while Temari played the role of a surrogate mother for her two younger brothers and Naruto. Temari had also taught him a lot of things, like patience and manners. Though to him, it didn't seem like he had a choice, it was learn, or suffer the consequences; and the consequences always hurt. Kankuro and him didn't do much, though Naruto had found out that the older boy had a thing for playing Go and Shogi, one thing he'd never expect from a lazy bum like him. Go figure. So Kankuro had decided to teach Naruto how to play one day, and Naruto taught Gaara, since he would sometimes stay up with the other boy; to which Temari had scolded him for. Gaara and him usually trained, and hung around the village, just walking around and/or talking. During training sessions, Gaara would even take of his gourd and fight hand-to-hand with him. Naruto had told him once during training that he relied too much on his gourd, and if the enemy somehow managed to take it away, he'd be dead. So, after that, they had spent every possible day they could spare away from their villages and worked on his taijutsu.

Gaara had changed the most between them. Not only had he stopped killing for the fun of it, he had learned to open up to people; those people being Naruto, Temari and Kankuro. He learned to relax more, and not be such a *cold-hearted bastard*, as Naruto had put it. He would actually laugh and make jokes, though it was mostly when Naruto was around. Because of that, Temari and Kankuro said that they might think about moving to Konoha, but they weren't sure if they'd be accepted; Konoha was still on edge with them. Temari and Kankuro were hardly ever scared of him, though they still prepared in case their brother snapped back; Gaara may have changed the last three years, but three years was nothing compared to thirteen years of putting up with a psychotic little brother with a thirst for blood. But because of the change, they respected Naruto. Gaara and his siblings had grown closer, and actually managed to treat each other like family. That family now included Naruto, which was why they were now on their way to the Sand. To celebrate the boys birthday. It was a tradition they had started one day when the siblings visited the Leaf on a mission, only to find out it was the poor blondes birthday, and no one - other than Iruka - seemed to know, or even worse, they didn't care. So after the mission, the sibling had brought Naruto back to their village after getting him a pass and threw him a small party consisting of only the siblings and Naruto. Naruto had been surprised the second year they did this, when Kyuubi actually gave him a present, in a form of a jutsu. He had been even more surprised what happened after wards. They had all freaked out when Gaara started loosing it, and were prepared to die when Shukaku took over Gaara's body, only to find out the sand priest had made an appearance only to give Naruto his birthday present, a summoning scroll for summoning a tanuki. Kyuubi had gotten mad, and, as to not be out done, taught Naruto how to summon fox spirits as well. Everyone had been in a state of shock, even Gaara had been impressed after they told him what happened; who knew the demons could be so competitive.

Naruto yelped when he felt a fist connect with the back of his skull, stumbling forward a few steps before glancing back to glare at his companion.

"What the fuckin' hell was that for?!" Naruto growled, rubbing his head as his face formed a pout.

"For not paying attention! I was talking to you!" Gaara snapped. Naruto fumed for a second more before shaking his head and turning to face his friend.

"Well, what?" Naruto questioned, pout still in place.

Gaara rolled his eyes and sighed. "I was asking you if you remembered your pass for the Sand."

"Oh! That!" he exclaimed. "Nope, I kinda forgot."

"What do you mean you forgot?!" Gaara snapped, rounding on the blonde. Naruto chuckled, grinning at the other before pulling out a small white card with his identification.

"Chill Gaara. I don't need one anymore, now that I got one of these babies, I don't have to waist my money buying new passes." Naruto replied, patting his friend on the shoulder. Gaara sighed, mumbling a low, "Whatever," before turning to follow his friend down the path.