𝐻𝑖 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒! [𝙶𝚊𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝑥 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]

Gaara

~Flashback~

Naruto challenged the toad, he said that if he could stay on his back the entire day, the toad has to believe he summoned him. "I challenge you as well." I said. "You may not be my summoning animal, but I will make you believe Naruto summoned you ya'know!" I said. "Very well then, I accept your challenge." the toad replied.

~End of Flashback~

~Y/n POV~

I woke up a hospital bed, I looked to my left and saw my brother about to leave with Shikamaru. "Sis your finally awake!" he shouted excitedly, once he saw me. "Yeah I just used up too much energy." I said quietly. After how I acted at the preliminaries, I didn't wanna draw anymore unnecessary attention to myself. "Hey [Y/n]." Shikamaru said. I flinched at the sudden voice, but quietly said hello. "Man, you sound like Hinata now. Look, you don't gotta be nervous around me, ok?" Shikamaru said. "O-ok." I said, a little louder this time.

A tiny time skip

I walked in the room, to see Gaara about to kill Lee. Shikamaru used his shadow possession to stop him. Naruto then punched Gaara (hitting Shikamaru as well), "Naruto!" I shouted. "What the heck do you think you're doing in here, you rat!" my brother shouted. "Hey man, go easy. I'm using my shadow possession jutsu, so when you're bashing him, you're bashing me to. You got it?" Shikamaru stated. "Oh sorry, Shikamaru." Naruto said.

"Gaara, why?" I asked sadly. We all stood in silence for a moment. "Well, are you gonna tell us what you were gonna do?" Naruto asked. "I was going to kill him." Gaara said. My eyes widened, not only because of what he said, but because of the look he had in his eyes. The eyes me and my brother gave the people of the village when we were younger. "You already beat him once in the competition, what's your problem, wasn't that enough for you?" Shikamaru asked.

Gaara just responded with, "I have nothing against him. It's nothing complicated, I just wanted to kill him." While Naruto and Shikamaru shouted at Gaara, I was very slowly walking up to him. "If you two get in my way, I'll have to kill you as well." Gaara said. Which Naruto responded to with, "Oh really? Well let's just see you try it!" Shikamaru yelled at Naruto and said, "Hey, woah kid. Take it easy."

Naruto then explained how he had a demon inside him, to which Gaara explained how he had the same as well. I wrapped my arms around Gaara, he looked down at me as I laid my head on his chest, tears falling from my eyes. "[Y/n], what are you-" but before Naruto could finish I said, "Look at his eyes Naruto.", tears still falling from my eyes. Naruto eyes widened as he realized he had the same eyes we used to have. "Gee, what a swell guy your dad must have been, he really must have loved you a lot." Shikamaru said, bluffing.

Gaara responded by saying, "You speak of love, don't measure me by your standards. Love. Family. The only emotional ties I have to my family are the ones I'd like to wrap around their necks. They're only ties of hate." I hugged him tighter and said, "Gaara please— please don't say that!" trying to stop myself from crying anymore. Gaara just looked down at me and pushed me away. He then explained how his father tried to kill him more times then he could count. I put my hand over my mouth, why would a father do something like that to his own child?

He said he needed a purpose to exist. Shikamaru didn't understand, but me and Naruto understood perfectly. "To put it simply my reason for living, is in the killing of others." he said. "No it's not Gaara!" I shouted wiping away my tears, frowning at him.

"Believe me Gaara, me and Naruto have thought like that too at one point, we didn't know our purpose either, in fact there are some things we still don't know. One thing we do know is, your purpose in life is not just to kill!" I shouted. He just answered by saying, "No, now I am at peace. I killed many would-be assassins, and it was while I was doing it that the truth was made clear to me. I live solely for myself. I love only myself."

Neither me, Naruto, or Shikamaru knew what to say. Naruto and I just looked into Gaara's eyes, his eyes said it all. He was broken. Gaara then released his sand, but neither me, nor Naruto could move. Shikamaru was calling our names, but I couldn't hear him, all I could hear was my past self crying in my brother's arms.

Finally I bundled up the ability to shout, "Gaara, stop it!" Guy sensei then walked in and told Gaara to stop. Gaara then clenched his head, I ran over to him. "Gaara, are you alright?!" I asked, worriedly. He started breathing heavily and his sand went back into his gord. Hesitantly he pushed me away.

He started walking to the door but stopped in the doorway. "All the same, I will kill you, just you wait. I'll kill you all." he said. Then, he looked at me, tear marks were on my face, he just turned and walked away.

As I saw him walk off into the distance, my mind was made up. I was going to follow him. I ran after him, I could hear my brother call out to me, but I didn't care.

Once I caught up to him, I tried to grab his hand, but he dodged and his sand pushed me back.

He put out his hand, and his sand slowly started spinning around me.

The sand looked so pretty spinning around me. His sand started to wrap around me. "Hey that kind of tickles." I said, giggling a bit. I'm very ticklish for some reason.

Gaara just stared at me, as if he was debating something. "Oh yeah, I forgot.. Gaara, why are you acting like this?" I asked, sadly.

He ignored my question, as his sand went back into his gord. He began to walk off again. "Wait!" I called out to him. "Keep following me, and I'll kill you. You're so irritating, I can't stand you." he said, coldly.

In that moment I could feel my heart break a little. As he walked off, tears began to fall down my face again. Why am I acting like this? Normally I would have pulverized anyone who said that to me. So, why?

I fell to my knees. "I'm sorry.." I said. He stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at me. I could have sworn there was a hint of regret in his eyes, but his cold expression masked it well.

He turned around and started walking away again, leaving me crying in the grass. I tried so hard, what'd I do wrong?

"[Y/n]! [Y/n]!" I heard a voice call. It was my brother. He ran to my side. "[Y/n], are you alright?!" he asked, worriedly. I wiped my tears away. "Yeah, yeah.. I'm fine, Naruto." I said, smiling.

My brother helped me up. "Come on, I'll treat you to a bowl of ramen to cheer you up." Naruto said, patting my head.

I forgive you.. Gaara.

The next morning..

The alarm I set went off, and me and my brother woke up. "Come on big brother, it's the final phase of the Chunin Exams! Don't be bummed cause you're going against Neji, I know you can do it!" I said excitedly. He just gave me a sleepy smile and we both walked downstairs to eat breakfast.

Once we got done eating breakfast, I went through my daily routine of combing my hair and putting on clothes. This time, I put my hair in a high ponytail. I put on my pink and yellow hoodie that fit tight on the middle of my thighs. It had the sleeves own lower so they showed my shoulders. Then, I put on my ninja shoes.

(Ignore the straps Imma tryna make this look more Naruto style)

I went downstairs where my brother was waiting. "Ready to go, sis?" he asked. "Yup!" I responded. The both of us then went on our way to the final phase of the Chunin Exams. I was ready!

Little did I know what was to come..