Due to the fact that everyone here was an active ninja, they took to jumping through the trees as their method of travel. Naruto, being bored as all get out, decided to make some small talk as they made their way out of the country, "So how'd Konoha treat you guys? You all look fine if you ask me."
Kankuro grumbled somewhat, "We wouldn't have had to stay at all if someone didn't jump us after the fight with Gaara."
Naruto let a smirk play on his lips, "Well I told you all exactly what I was going to do. You weren't going to just leave so I had to knock you all out. It's not my fault that you didn't watch your backs."
Kankuro still kept his eyes narrowed at him, "I still can't believe we lost so easily. You just clubbed us over the back of the head without us even noticing."
Grinning back at the paint-wearing ninja, Naruto responded, "I am very sneaky sir." He dropped the grin from his face, "How far is it to Suna? I've never been before." This was a lie. He had been to Suna before, but he really wanted to cover up the stuff he did in Ne around the people that didn't need to know about it unless the knowledge was necessary. Temari moved closer in their formation to speak to him, "From Konoha, Suna is about three days away if we keep at this speed."
Naruto nodded and turned to face them, "Alright, we'll go for as long as you can all stand to travel. Don't worry about me, just yourselves, I might be capable of getting all the way to Suna without sleep myself."
Kankuro and Temari blinked blankly at that. Gaara didn't have energy to burn like that. Though this kid did beat Gaara in his full-transformation after all… it couldn't really be that farfetched. Kankuro glanced back at Gaara and whispered to Naruto, "Hey. Gaara says that you're like him. What exactly does that mean?"
Naruto looked back at him in a nonchalant manner, "Oh that? I have a biju sealed inside of me like him." Naruto took not of the looks of shock on their faces, minus Gaara, "What? Did he not elaborate on what he meant when he said that?"
The two stunned siblings shook their heads. Temari looked back at Gaara who nodded in affirmation. She looked up at Naruto in confusion, "Wait? Why don't you have any powers or transformations like Gaara? We probably wouldn't have even known if you two hadn't said anything."
The blonde boy shrugged, "I don't know. I can do some stuff with its chakra, but I don't really have any transformations or anything really scary like Gaara does to my knowledge." He then added under his breath, "Unless you count the trigger…"
Kankuro put his nerves behind him, 'This kid isn't like Gaara. He won't flat out kill us for no reason. Stop being so scared of him, he's just like me or Temari.' "So, which one do you have if I could ask? You know that Gaara has the Ichibi no Shukaku."
"Oh I have the Kyuubi no Yoko in me." Naruto grinned at them all cheekily, "But you shouldn't go around spreading that. It's an S-class secret in my village, no one my age knows about it. If you do I might just have to pop up and kill you, no big deal." The mirth in his voice couldn't indicate if he was joking about that or not.
The silence brought on by Naruto's proclamation was broken by Gaara of all people, "How did you not end up like me?"
Naruto looked at Gaara dead in his eyes and saw that he was genuinely curious about it, "Well, first of all I ended up making contact with the Kyuubi personally and hammering out a contract of sorts between us. It can't possess me, I can use its chakra when I need to, I let it see, hear, and feel what I do, there's other stuff too but that is some of the big stuff."
Gaara blinked, "I've never tried that before. Shukaku kind of just runs rampant in my mind. Even now it wants me to kill you to get even."
Naruto grinned at him, "I'm so glad you've thought better of trying that. Yeah, the contract wasn't my idea though, it was someone else's. And you say you can't even get into your head safely to make contact without Shukaku fighting for control? Your seal must suck."
The siblings all looked at each other before Temari spoke up, "You know about seals?" "No." Naruto shook his head in the negative, "But I was sealed by the Yondaime Hokage, who was the best. If I haven't heard of who did yours then they must not be nearly as good." He then scratched his chin, "That might be something to learn though…"
He got a serious look on his face, "But in all seriousness, don't go around telling people that I contain the Kyuubi. I have enough crap to deal with at home with just the adults knowing. If the kids my age are going to know, I'm going to tell them my damn self so that no one can warp their opinions. I was supposed to be a weapon like Gaara, but I ended up getting out of it somehow."
Gaara's curiosity was piqued further by Naruto's words, "You got out of it? What do you mean?"
Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly, "Well I was used for serious stuff, a lot of cloak and dagger operations, until four years ago when I ended up getting caught. The ones that discovered me ended up doing something to make me into that daft, loud, orange-wearing kid that you met at first. Fighting Gaara pulled my old killer instinct out, I thank you for that, and here we are now."
Kankuro raised an eyebrow, "You don't seem too much like a weapon to me."
His sister nodded in response, "You just seem like a really strong ninja, a kid."
Naruto wagged his eyebrows at her, "I'm a sentient weapon you could say. I don't like being all dreary when I don't have to be. When we're like this, no real fighting going on, I can be normal, well as normal as a ninja like me can be anyway. When the fighting starts I can just turn on the side of me that's a killer, it's kind of weird to explain."
Gaara looked at Naruto, "Your teammate, the way you fought him in the stadium, I thought he was precious to you. You said you got strength from defending others and yet you had no problems hurting him."
Chuckles came from Naruto as he contemplated Gaara's comment, "Well, maybe, but I don't really like him so it doesn't really count that much. What I told you was true, but it was more like for the whole village than just my team, I don't even like my team."
"You don't like your team?" Temari looked at him as if he was crazy, "Then why are you on it? Why not get switched out?"
Naruto smiled, "Well seeing as how I'm currently doing this it works out for me. Honestly, working with you guys so far has been more pleasant than my entire time on Team 7. No brooding spoiled pretty-boy breathing down my neck, no sensei that would rather read than pay attention to what's going on, and no pink-haired fan-girl with bipolar syndrome and a hair-trigger right hand. Yep, Temari-chan here is way more pleasant to be around as far as female company goes."
Temari blushed while Kankuro snorted, "Yeah sure kid. Just trade the hair color and the fist for a giant metal fan and you've got Temari."
The girl in question looked back at her younger brother while clutching the fan on her back tightly, "What was that Kankuro? Could you repeat that for me?"
Kankuro rapidly shook his head while Naruto barked out a laugh, "See, at least she gave you a warning. I usually didn't get those before Sakura tried to wail on me." Naruto noticed that Gaara had been staring at him for quite a while, "What's wrong Gaara? Do you need something?"
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