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Training a Kazekage
by thatreevesgirl/Lemon Drops (both me)
Chapter 1: Admiration
Warning: Spoilers present if you aren't up to date with the manga scanlations
A/N's: A slightly different take on how Gaara would be after the removal of Shukaku
Both Temari and Kankuro eyed each other with worried expressions, because they had brought their younger brother to Konoha in hopes that the redhead’s low chakra levels and inability to wield his full power were due to illness or shock or something, not a permanent fixture, which was now becoming the apparent reason why Gaara had been fatigued during the last month or so.
“Is there really nothing we can do for him, Tsunade-sama?” Temari whispered, tears dancing in her eyes, because she had seen how broken Gaara had seemed in the days since Shukaku’s removal, but only in a physical sense. Gaara’s seemingly limitless power now had nearly disappeared, and he held about the same chakra levels as herself. Temari was a feared kunoichi, incredibly strong, a jounin, and probably one of the top ninja in all of Sand, but Gaara had been special, extraordinarily strong by most standards. Now he was like she was, like Kankurou was—ordinary.
“It isn’t something to be overly concerned about, Temari,” Gaara whispered. “It’s better this way. I feel well like this.”
And Gaara did, because what the Kazekage had lost in physical power he had gained in emotional and mental stability. His strength was different now, because he was no longer tormented by the demon he housed, and the things which had once held him back were gone. It wasn’t as if he lost the ability to wield sand or fight, because Gaara still had all of his skills, he just ran out of chakra faster, he was limited to the amount he could battle.
Temari patted her younger brother on the shoulder, physical touch being something they were able to do much more of these days. Gaara was accepting of others, especially herself and Kankurou. “I know Gaara, but I suppose you’ll have to train harder with taijutsu now since your ultimate defense can be broken easier than before.”
Kankurou snorted and crossed his arms, trying to seem uninterested in the predicament Gaara was in, but his worried eyes betrayed him, “I always told you that you should learn more taijutsu or puppetry.”
Gaara smiled as Kankurou berated him and murmured a soft, “Thank you, Temari. Thank you, Kankurou. It’s nice to know you are both concerned about me.” Temari smiled back and Kankurou nodded slightly before turning away and staring at a wall, probably to hide the fact his eyes had been slightly misty since the moment Tsunade had confirmed their worst fears and more so now as his little brother was expressing gratitude toward him.
“Hokage-sama, would it be alright if I stay in your village for a few days?” Gaara asked the older woman, who was currently putting away her medical instruments, books, and scrolls.
Continuing her task, Tsunade nodded, and not missing a beat added, “Naruto should be off somewhere in the north training area, he’s working on a new jutsu of his own.”
Gaara gulped and tried to hide the sheepish look on his face, because he hadn’t realized what he was thinking had been so transparent. “Do you think he would mind if I visited him?” the younger kage asked.
Tsunade picked up a scroll and wound a band around it, and then replaced a seal as she considered Gaara’s question. Walking to her large office window and looking out she gave a small smirk and shook her head, “No, I don’t think he would mind seeing you at all, in fact, I bet he would be very glad to have you visit him.”
Gaara turned to his siblings, replacing his Kazekage robe and his sandals, “Both of you should return to Sand, I don’t want it to remain defenseless while I’m away. I’m putting my trust in you.”
Temari’s lower lip quivered and she had to force herself not to cry. She had always teased Shikamaru for being a crybaby, telling him he was weak for acting so emotional during missions, but having Gaara like this was nearly too much for her. In the years since Uzumaki Naruto had fought her youngest sibling Gaara had changed so much, but it felt like that change sped up in the last month and a half, leaving Temari very proud of the young man he had become. “We won’t let you down little brother,” she told him with a warm grin.
Gaara nodded and returned her expression, a true smile, something he had been able to do more readily since the day of his death and resurrection weeks before. “I know you won’t, Temari, and neither will you Kankurou, I’m sure of it.”
Kankuro pulled a few kunai out of his hippack and handed them to Gaara, “Take care while you are up here, make sure that the Hokage sends you with escorts back to Sand since…” Kankurou scratched his neck nervously, he didn’t want to say ‘since you can’t fight off attackers very well,’ so he settled on, “Because it’s the proper courtesy owed the leader of an ally nation.”
Tsunade slapped the young Sand jounin on the back and chuckled, causing Kankurou to turn a bright red as blood rushed to his cheeks since the Leaf leader was a very beautiful woman in his mind. “Don’t you worry, I’ll make sure I send the very best team of escorts with him,” the Hokage reassured him with a bright smile.
Temari bowed and nodded, “Thank you for everything, Tsunade-sama, if there is ever a way we can repay your kindness, please let us know, but we must be on our way. Gaara, be safe, we’ll see you in a few weeks.” With that the two Sand ninja were gone and Gaara waved at Tsunade and also showed himself out, leaving a rather amused Hokage to sit and consider what kind of trouble her favorite blond brat was going to be in for, she had a hankering that it was probably going to be a doozy of a ride for him and that Gaara kid.
The Kazekage garnered more than a few stares as he wandered the streets of Konoha. Some were from admiration, some from fear, and more than a couple just out of general curiosity to why a foreigner was wandering the streets of Konoha alone.
“Gaara?” came the cheerful voice of a young woman from a nearby building, and Gaara watched as a pink-haired kunoichi ran to catch up with him. She smiled at him, inspecting him closely before saying, “You look well, Gaara, I’m so glad. Why are you here in Konoha?”
Gaara continued walking toward his destination, but was glad to have a companion on his stroll through Konoha, “I came to see your Hokage, she did some medical tests on me.” Gaara left it at that, because Tsunade had mentioned that he should probably keep the knowledge that his chakra levels were depleted to himself and only divulge it to those that absolutely needed to know, and Haruno Sakura wasn’t a person who made that short-list.
“Ah, I see, I take it that the testing went well, because you seem much better since the last time I saw you.” Sakura smiled and reached into her pocket, “Would you do a favor for me?” she asked.
Gaara’s face turned curious, trying to figure out what exactly the young woman wanted from him. “I suppose it depends, Sakura, what do you need from me?”
Sakura held out a small piece of iron which had been molded into a flower. Trembling as she handed it to the Kazekage, “Could you please place this on Chiyo’s memorial stone for me? I would really appreciate it since I won’t be visiting Suna in the near future.”
This was one request the Kazekage could handle, and he put the flower into a pocket in his vest, “I will do it as soon as I return, are there any prayers you wish me to offer her, or things you would like me to tell her for you?”
Gaara watched as a single tear fell from Sakura’s eye, running along the crevice of her cheek and plopping onto the dusty street below, “Tell her thank you and that I miss her, and I hope that someday we will have the opportunity to talk again,” Sakura whispered to the Sand leader. “She was an amazing woman, I wish I could have learned more from her.”
Reaching out and squeezing Sakura’s hand, sending her into a bit of shock as Gaara nodded reassuringly, “She was, but so are you. Honor her memory by living your life fully.” Sakura was still in a haze as Gaara dropped her hand and continued on his journey to the northern training grounds. “Would you show me where Naruto is training?” he asked.
Blushing and then pointing to a gate at the edge of town she replied, “Of course, I’ll take you there myself, Kazekage-sama.”
Gaara was quite amused and told his friend, “I liked it better when you just called me Gaara. You, Naruto, and your sensei played a large role in saving my life, so I would prefer if we stayed on more casual terms. It seems inappropriate for you to be so formal around me.”
Sakura smiled, turning nearly as red as her shirt as she nodded in agreement. When had Sabaku no Gaara become such a charming young man? Sakura wasn’t sure and she mused at how this was probably the true Gaara she was speaking to, and this person had most likely been overshadowed by Shukaku for many years. If it wouldn’t have been strange (and probably a bit rude), she would have told Gaara how much she appreciated the changes she noticed in him. Naruto, you did something right when you believed in him, Sakura thought, I should have known better than to have doubted you.
Sakura dropped Gaara off at the edge of the training grounds, waving goodbye at him as she left to go do some training of her own in a different field with her new teammate Sai. Gaara gave a slight wave in reply and continued his search for Naruto.
It wasn’t going to be a difficult task to find where his friend was, there was a certain roar which resembled Naruto’s voice coming from a nearby hillside. Gaara followed it and the sound of a waterfall to find the earth raised and two men watching Naruto’s progress as over a hundred blonds stood shirtless upon the monument of rushing water and practiced a jutsu over and over again. Gaara recognized one of the men as Hatake Kakashi, Naruto’s sensei, but the other man, the one sitting in the middle of a seal with meditation devices, was unknown to the Kazekage.
Gaara decided to continue observing his friend out of the way, though he noted that Kakashi glanced over in his direction, probably sensing him right away. The copy-nin glared hard at the bush with his uncovered eye and then smiled and waved at Gaara who ducked behind a tree. It was silly to hide, but it embarrassed Gaara to know he had been caught peeping on his friend. Sighing quietly the kage turned to return looking at the training his friend was attempting, but instead was met with Kakashi about a foot away from himself, impeding the view of Naruto’s progress.
“Yo!” Kakashi told the younger man with a grin.
Gaara nearly bolted, and if he hadn’t been Sabaku no Gaara, Kazekage of Suna then he might have. Firmly planting himself in place Gaara nodded and welcomed the older man, “Hello, Kakashi, it’s good to see you again.”
The older man leaned forward and picked a leaf out of Gaara’s hair and dropped it on the ground, “It is always a pleasure to see friends and allies, but I must ask, what are you doing here?”
Gaara reverted back to the stone face he’d used for many, many years with Shukaku and responded coolly, “I came to Konoha to meet with your Hokage, she told me Naruto was training here. Sakura showed me where you were.” Had Gaara not been so used to the act of being disinterested Kakashi might have known just how flustered he was to have been caught spying on their training.
“Ah, Naruto always talks about you, so I’m sure he’ll be very happy to have you visit him,” the older man said pointing at the weary group of half naked men standing in the path of a waterfall. “He’s been training awfully hard today, so it might be best if you return tomorrow morning. We’ll still be here, but I don’t want him to be distracted, and after he’s finished I guarantee he’ll be passed out faster than he can say ramen.”
That was a little disappointing, but Gaara agreed to the stipulation, “You don’t mind if I watch, do you? Or is it classified?”
Kakashi looked a bit perturbed by that, and considered the request carefully before answering, “I do hope I’m making the right decision by trusting you Kazekage-sama, it is important that this remain secret, but something tells me that Naruto will just tell you all about it tomorrow anyway.”
Gaara nodded, “I would do nothing to endanger the lives of my allies,” and after a moment he added, “Or my friends.”
Kakashi placed his hand on the teen’s head and ruffled Gaara’s hair, something which unbeknownst to Gaara was actually a test, as he replied, “Well then I think you’ll be rather proud of your friend’s progress.”
Gaara didn’t cringe at the older man mussing his hair, if anything it made him want to smile. He’d always seen the other children in the village getting a similar response from fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, and older family friends. It wasn’t necessarily the most dignified thing to do to the leader of an ally nation, but it was oddly appreciated. A small grin crept onto Gaara’s lips as he whispered, “I’ve always admired Naruto’s tenacity.”
“That’s a good way of putting it,” Kakashi responded with a chuckle. “He has always been a rather stubborn knucklehead of a kid, but admirable all the same.”
As Kakashi finished his sentence the roar of water rumbled, and both Gaara and Kakashi looked up to the waterfall to see Naruto slice through it with ease, the blonds jumping up and down for joy as he finally mastered the amazing feat. “Is that?” Gaara asked quietly.
“His wind affinity, yes, fairly impressive isn’t it, Gaara?” Kakashi asked with a smirk. “You’ll have to excuse me, something tells me that I’ll have to intervene now.”
Gaara wasn’t sure what the older jounin had meant, but as Naruto’s shadow clones began reassimilating themselves into Naruto he saw how woozy the blond became and eventually Kakashi had to catch him and carry him back down to their campsite.
“You really are an admirable person, Uzumaki Naruto,” Gaara said under his breath. He nodded at the thought and removed his pack from his back in order to make camp a few hundred yards from where Naruto was. The Kazekage had been eager to see his friend, but now he felt as if he had to do something worthy of Naruto before speaking with him. He was weak in comparison, so he would do a little training of his own while in Konoha, even if it was only meager taijutsu training. Gaara refused to let himself talk to Naruto until he felt he had also bettered his own skills.
Using his sand to carve several targets into the trunks of trees he smiled and flung one of the kunai Kankurou have given him toward it at blinding speed. The metal weapon lodged itself somewhere in the outer ring of the target and Gaara grumbled, “I really am quite bad at this.”
(END OF CHAPTER)