The Jinchuriki Alliance: A New Dream

Chapter 55: Caged

Naruto's P.O.V

"Ah..ah.. achoo!" he suddenly sneezes, causing him to accidentally drop the rubber ball in his hands.

"Ah man! Now I have to start all over again!" he groans as he picks up one of the only balls he has left from Jiraiya.

During their fight with the shinobi from the Village of Artisans , he had managed to lose almost an entire bag of rubber balls mid fight. They are probably scattered in random locations throughout the entire forest, considering he had been up against a wind user, he has no doubt she was the culprit. However, he at least kept two in his main back pack, he will have to be careful though, they are his last two rubber balls that the pervy sage baught him.

A few days ago, after his heart to heart chat with Fu about Gaara, he had asked if she could provide him with more as well. At first she looked stupefied and confused, but after he mentioned his training, her eyes had lit up brightly and she suddenly had no qualms about giving him some balls that he could use. Although she did warn that she probably couldn't give him too many, not an entire bag full anyway. As for the toilet though...she couldn't make any promises, if they were uncomfortable using it then they would just have to make do with going outside until she figures something out.

Ever since then he had been back to his training, whilst Fu went back to her village for a little while. She explained that she needed to make sure that her face is seen enough around her village to make sure she doesn't raise suspicions. Then of course she had her duties as a genin, however, she had promised that she would be back, in fact, she is due to be back later in the afternoon and judging by how late in the day it now is, she could be back within the hour for all he knew...

As for Gaara, the redhead had come down to check on him a few times a day after Fu had left, normally to make sure he ate something, to watch him train for a little bit, and sometimes even joining in to spar with him. He's not going to lie, going up against Gaara is terrifying...and his sand is very fast, and annoying...normally by the time they finish their sparring sessions, he feels sand in very annoying places.

He sighs as he finally gives up for the day, then sits against the tree looking at the mark on his hand, the ball still didn't pop, and he still hasn't spoken to Gaara about Fu. He didn't know how to approach the subject with him, he didn't want any misunderstandings that would upset the redhead...but he at least had to be firm enough to get him to understand that he was serious about him at least trying to be civil with her. Sure, Gaara hasn't exactly openly engaged with Fu...yet, but he can tell that Gaara was silently stewing, he was aware of the distrustful glares and intense aura that he has been sending Fu's way.

"Maybe try to assure him that your friendship is still important to you and that having Fu around isn't going to change anything...if you find it hard to confront him about Fu, maybe you can start off with that at first, make him calm down and feel reassured before trying to convince him to not rip the girls head off" Kurama advises oh so wisely.

"That...is actually a good idea Kurama...who knew that even you can give advice about making peace and stuff" he smirks in amusement.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that...also you might want to get up there, I can feel Gaara stirring, you been so focused on training after your talk with Fu that I think the kid may be thinking your mostly ignoring or avoiding him..." Kurama warns before retreating back to the depths of his cage.

"I guess this is just something I'll have to get used to when it comes to Gaara.." he mumbles to himself as he gets back up and begins to make his way up towards the treehouse, this time foregoing the vine and just walking straight up. Thank god Kakashi sensei had taught them this technique before everything went to hell...When he finally made it to the front veranda, he calls out as casually as he could, trying to hide the nervousness for the talk to come.