Underneath the Underneath

The Final Task

The 2 months passed by in a blur, and in no time at all, it was time for the final task.

The Hokage had informed me that not only did I not have to participate, I was to join him in the Kage's box to 'protect him'.

I think he just wanted someone he could talk to in all honesty. Not that I was going to tell him that I thought that of course, I don't have a death wish.

As the final task commenced, I was standing in the top box, watching what was happening. Of course I was in my ANBU uniform, but that didn't really bother me.

I watched as all the people below me moved around, trying to find a seat, it was kind of amusing.

"Alright, let's start. First we have Sasuke Uchiha and Sabaku no Gaara," The Hokage announced.

Both contestants walked down from the stands, getting in fighting stances, standing on opposite sides of the arena.

"Alright, 3 2 1... Go!" The instructor called out, quickly caking out of the way.

Sasuke ran at Gaara, attacking head on. It was amusing watching Sasuke attack again and again, only to fail as Gaara's sand blocked him.

Sasuke was using Rock Lee's moves, trying to defeat Gaara again, the crowd was booing at him, they clearly didn't like that.

Gaara appears to also have been training, getting better and better. Sasuke wasn't able to land a single hit on him.

Eventually, Gaara seems to have had enough, grabbing and holding Sasuke against the ground with his sand, not letting Sasuke get back up.

The instructor called the match off after realizing that Sasuke wouldn't be able to get back up. Gaara had won.

Sasuke looked angry, and embarrassed. It was amusing.

The rounds continued on, and I didn't pay attention for most of it. I did pay attention whenever one of my friends battled, but other than that, it all flew over my head.

The matches ended pretty quick, and the Konah 12 decided to go to dinner somewhere. They eventually hunted me down and asked me as well, so I decided to go.

"So, where are we going exactly?" I asked, standing in the circle with the rest of the teenagers that I went to the academy with.

"First we need to find Gaara, Lee wanted to invite him." Kiba spoke up.

"Alright." We all decided to split off into different directions, hoping to find him faster.

I ended up walking more towards the forest near the arena. Walking into the thick treeline, I looked around and found a faint trail.

Deciding to follow that, I walked further and further into the forest, still not turning back. There were faint footprints that led this way, and I wanted to see where it brought you.

At the end of the trail was a beautiful clearing, with trees lining the area, and flowers blanketing the grass.

Sat in the middle of the clearing was Gaara. His eyes were closed, and his sand gourd was laying in the flowers next to him. He looked . . . peaceful.

As I continued to walk closer, he looked over at me, hearing my footsteps. I smile at him.

"Hi, my friends and I were wondering if you would like to eat something with us?" I asked.

He looked a little surprised that I had asked him to come with us, "I mean, sure I guess, can I invite my siblings?"

"Of course, we just have to find them." I smiled at him again.

He got up off the ground and grabbed his sand gourd. He followed me back out of the forest.

Once we broke the tree line, we walked around a bit before we found his siblings. Meeting up with the Konoha 12 where we all agreed to group together again.

In a little less than 10 minutes, everyone was back, and we started properly introducing ourselves.

"Well, I'm Naruto Uzumai." I commented once it was clear that no one else wanted to be the first to speak up.

"'I'm Sabaku no Gaara, this is my older brother and sister, Temari and Kankuro." Gaara spoke up after that.

After everyone was acquainted with one another, we started debating on what to eat.

We decided to go to the Ichiraku Ramen stand, in memory of 'what I used to be'. Or at least that's how Ino put it.

I rolled my eyes and decided to go with it, and followed the rest of the ninjas out and into the food stalls that line the streets.

It was a 5 minute walk, so we just decided to walk in silence, no one really wanting to start a conversation yet. We walked into the ramen stall, and sat down at one of the tables in the very back, tables that were used when there was a large group of people here, like us.

"Hello there, what can I get y'all today?" A waiter had come over, looking for our order.

Everyone ordered something, and we started a conversation while we waited for our food.

I smiled, I could get used to this.

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The End.
860 Words
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