Six Years Too Long

Chapter 24

Third person pov

Looking at it, Minato's genuinely surprised Gaara's seal hasn't broken already.

The candlelit chamber they're in has no windows, with a flat floor and curved walls that come up to form a domed roof overhead. Minato hovers by one of the walls with Jiraiya by his side, Naruto and Gaara stranded somewhere in the middle. It's as close as they can really get without Gaara's sand mobilizing. Whilst Naruto can touch him, nobody else can.

Still, the redhead reluctantly holds his shirt up and-- after some trial and error-- manages to gather enough chakra at his core for the seal to reveal itself. The boy doesn't seem very happy about this turn of events, but he reluctantly complies because Naruto asks him to. The peace they have right now is shaky at best, however, and Minato has no actual idea how they're actually going to do this.

Gaara acts like a skittish street dog who's never known love in its entire life. His eyes are constantly darting about in search of ways to escape even if nothing particularly bad is happening yet. They're the only ones in here, with everyone else mobilized outside in case something goes terribly wrong. Sealing is a delicate art, one that requires as little interference and distraction as possible.

Minato has no idea how they're going to do said delicate art. It's a bridge they're rapidly coming upon, and he's not sure crossing over it is even an option. Gaara will kill them if they get too close. He'd almost gotten Kakashi earlier for moseying his way just a little too close, and the only reason he hadn't was because Kakashi was one of the few who could rival Minato in both speed and reaction time.

Minato has no idea if the sand is thanks to the tailed beast or if it's some other defense mechanism born in response to the abuse Gaara had faced. If they ever manage to redo the seal and tighten it, Minato supposes they'll find out. Emphasis on if-- things really aren't looking great, no matter how friendly Naruto had made himself with Gaara.

"Wow. Could you guys have like, picked a less creepy place or something?" Naruto frowned, glancing around the chamber idly. He still had his hand locked around Gaara's in support whilst his redheaded companion kept his shirt raised. "This place sucks. And it smells like stale corn chips, believe it."

"Even the faintest breeze could disrupt the sealing process." Jiraiya noted absentmindedly, squatted awkwardly so he could get a better look at the seal in the low light. It was wobbly and missing several of the layers it should have had. A total train wreck. "So could too much light."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Wait, that reminds me! Hold on. I had something for you." Naruto gasped, tone a little too exaggerated to pass as genuine. Minato closed his eyes to stifle a laugh as Naruto shoved his hand in his pocket, pretended to dig around, and then slowly pulled his hand back out with his middle finger raised. "Fuck you, old man. Nobody asked you."

Jiraiya made a hysterical sort of noise in the back of his throat. Minato took a few deep breaths. He was a professional in a professional setting doing professional things. He was not (read: NOT) going to laugh so hard he burst a lung and have to be carted off to the nearest hospital when he was supposed to be sealing away a literal demon.

Gaara glanced between Naruto and Jiraiya both for a beat before he nodded in agreement.

"Fuck you." The sand Jinchuriki proclaimed, sounding like he had absolutely no idea what that even meant. Minato made a sound like a deflating balloon, cracking his eyes open to risk total annihilation and glance at his former teacher. Jiraiya looked utterly defeated. It was the least he deserved.

"Believe it." Naruto held out his fist. Gaara stared at it for a moment, squinting. Naruto brought it forward and bumped it against Gaara's hand, which was clenched around his shirt still. Minato wished he had a camera. "This means we're best friends forever and ever now."