"Are you upset with me?" Temari asked. "We can leave the dresses for another time. The festival offers plenty of other activities."
She set the clothes back on the rack and walked into the street, smiling at Naruto. He scratched his cheek.
"You don't wanna fight?"
"Why would I want to do something like that?" Temari tilted her head. "You're a guest. And my father's guests aren't usually this young and handsome."
Naruto knew she wasn't lying, but the line still irritated him. It was fake, just like the rest of the evening.
Humans lie, Kyu said. You ought to be used to it by now.
"You reaaally don't want to?" Naruto asked.
"As I said—"
A localized breeze of wind struck Temari in the face and scattered her spiky hair. She blinked to clear her eyes. Naruto's palm was raised— the source of the wind.
"How about now?"
"Wind Release…" Temari said. She would've known what Naruto's elemental affinity was, but hearing about it and seeing it were two different things. Temari bit her cheek with her molars. "It would just be a quick spar, right? Father wouldn't hear about it?"
"He wouldn't mind even if he watched it himself," Naruto said. "I've always been curious about it. How good are the people from Wind Country? This is my chance to find out."
Temari's resistance only lasted a few more seconds.
"I need to get my fan," she said.
Naruto grinned.
"Lead the way!"
O-O-O
Hinata felt more awkward than she had for a very long time as she walked around a festival with the son of a foreign kage. She couldn't get a read on Gaara, or guess what was going through his head. Kankuro had abandoned them to join a group of civilian girls he caught giggling in his direction. Kankuro scared her more than Gaara, but being alone with either of them was worse than being accompanied by both.
"For you."
Gaara handed her the bag he had been carrying. Hinata opened it… and discovered the long-sleeved shirt she had longingly eyed earlier in the evening.
"...Thank you?" Hinata said.
"It is not from me," Gaara said. "Naruto directed me to buy it. He would have done so himself, but it fell outside of his budget."
"One j-jacket was… outside of his budget?"
"He's temporarily broke." Gaara didn't sound judgemental, and there was no doubt in his voice. "It's a necessary step on his inevitable journey toward lavish wealth. When I finally take my position as his head butler, the price of that jacket will be added as a bonus to my first paycheck, along with the other purchases I've made for him over the years. He would even pay interest on them, but I could never accept something like that.
"I s-see," Hinata said.
She was stuttering more than usual. With age she had largely ridded herself of that trait, but intense situations brought it out again. She was nervous around Gaara… although that feeling was starting to diminish.
Gaara suddenly lifted his head. He shut his eyes, pointing his face toward the edge of the village. Seconds later he opened his eyes and spoke, offering no explanation for the gesture. "Are you attached to this festival?"
"Not particularly," Hinata said.
"In that case, might I suggest a walk along the edge of the village? In my experience, a tranquil night is more reinvigorating than a celebration."
Hinata nodded in agreement, glad to make her escape from Suna's Festival of Fortitude. Naruto seemed to enjoy it, but to her it felt disorienting. Unfamiliar foods, too many strangers, and a sense that she was being watched all made her skin crawl. She had activated her Byakugan a couple of times, but never spotted anyone with their eyes on her. Gaara led them toward the edge of the village.
"Did Naruto say w-why he had you get this for me?" Hinata asked.
"Because you wanted it." Gaara was as inexpressive as ever, yet Hinata's brain tacked a silent obviously onto the end of the sentence. "That's what he's like."
"But I'm no one to him." Just a vague acquaintance from the distant past.
"That's not how it seems to me," Gaara said.
"...Why not?"
Gaara looked at her. This time, Hinata was certain he was being deadpan.
"Because he's still here. If it wasn't for you, he wouldn't have set foot within a thousand kilometers of Suna. As soon as father's eyes were off of him he would have run. He came here because it was the best choice for you."
Hinata looked at the cracked dirt they were walking on. "Then… he was forced to come because he felt responsible for me. I'm dragging him down."
"Do not mistake me," Gaara said. "Naruto doesn't do anything that he doesn't want to do. That's how he's sworn to live. It's also where most of his struggles come from… but that's a tradeoff he's chosen to take. You are not forcing him to be here against his will. He has decided to be there for you."
In her ears, Hinata's heart beat louder than their footsteps.
"Th-Theoretically, if he o-offered to take me with him, do you think he would… mean it?"
"Did I not just say? Naruto does what he wants. Nothing else."
Hinata looked at the shirt she'd been gifted. It was a soft shade of lavender not too different from her eyes. It didn't go with her kimono, but she put it on over her upper body anyway, leaving it unzipped. Even if it was just inside her head, the fabric felt warmer than an inviting fire.
All the same, she couldn't believe it. Naruto had nothing to gain from bringing along someone like her. She was dead weight— to her clan, to the village where she was born, and to him, if she took him up on his kindness.
She was reminding herself of this, the pair nearing the village gates, when Gaara started to talk.
"I am a Jinchurki. When I was born, the One-Tails was sealed inside of me. From the time I can remember, it did not allow me to sleep."
It didn't feel like he was talking directly to Hinata. More like he was telling a story in a way that anybody was welcome to listen. Hinata attentively awaited more as the two of them ventured through the village gates, into the sandy expanse beyond.
"When I let myself sleep, the One-Tails would attack my mind. Nightmares were the only dreams that I knew. If I slept for too long, the beast would take over my mind. During the day, things were not much better. Everyone feared me. They avoided me with all their might. I did not understand the concept of pain, because I never felt it. That led me to hurt others, unaware what that meant."
Hinata was struggling to walk on the loose sand. Gaara noticed, and the dunes in front of them transformed into stairs that supported their weight. Hinata tried to envision what that past would feel like… and couldn't. That kind of suffering was too far beyond her own. Instead of understanding, the best she could muster was pity.
"When my uncle tried to kill me," Gaara said, as if that was something that happened to everyone, "it was the final straw. I let go of the One-tails and rampaged. My father stopped me. He was the one who ordered my assassination— as he would do again, five more times. It never worked. Their blades couldn't reach me."
"The Kazekage did that?" Hinata asked. Her father was distant, and he frightened Hinata, but it never approached something like killing her. Even her banishment to the Branch House had been decided by the elders, not Hiashi. Though he never fought for her, either.
"I was a defective weapon," Gaara said. "I don't hold animosity toward him for his decision. That was my life… until Naruto arrived."
"Did he help you?" Hinata asked.
Something must have changed. The Gaara she was speaking to felt nothing like the bloodthirsty boy he was describing. Did Naruto enhance the seal, or find some way to increase the Suna Jinchuriki's control?
"He didn't just help me, he saved me," Gaara said. "He beat me."
"He… defeated you?"
"No, he beat me." Gaara was adamant. "He hit me with his fists until I was bruised and bleeding. He shattered my sand as it tried to protect me and taught me the meaning of pain. I ran from it and gave the One-Tails control… So he gave the One-Tails the same treatment."
It was hard not to trust Gaara's matter-of-fact way of speaking. He felt like someone who couldn't lie. But the story he was telling…
"Actually, I believe Shukaku got it worse than I did," Gaara said. "That's the One-Tails' name, Shukaku. Naruto terrified him so badly that he agreed to cooperate. After that, the two of us reached a deal. No more nightmares for me, and I no longer hurt others without a reason. I understood their pain. For fixing my life, do you know what Naruto asked in return?"
"For you to serve him?"
"No. I picked that myself because it was what I wanted. The answer is nothing. Naruto saved me because he could. He didn't look for payment. He is the only person of his kind that I have ever met."
The wind blew through the desert, cold and carrying bits of grit. Hinata shielded her face with her hand and gazed at the stars. She was starting to understand why Gaara told her his story.
He knew that she hadn't believed him that she wasn't a burden to Naruto. He shared his past to show her why he believed the things he did. She smiled slightly. Even if he tended to be cold, he wasn't as scary as she had thought. It had been ages since her last stutter.
"Yes, Naruto is one of a kind," Gaara said. "Which is why if anyone will do him harm, of any kind, then I will personally eviscerate them."
Someone tried to cut Hinata's head off.
They came out of nowhere. Her Byakugan hadn't been activated because she thought she was safe. The sword came for her throat— and the desert blocked it.
Sand caught the blade without letting go. When spikes shot out of the ground, the ninja wielding it leaped back, leaving their weapon to avoid being impaled.
Hinata's Byakugan came to life. She realized that three attempts had been made on Gaara's life at the same time. He'd blocked them as easily as he saved her.
"A-Assassins?!" Hinata said.
There were four enemies. They wore featureless wooden masks with slit eyes and wielded swords. The one that lost her sword in Gaara's sand drew a shorter backup blade. None of them flinched standing in front of a Jinchuriki. Their masks were inscribed with seals to block Hinata's sight, hiding their faces, but she recognized the swords they were wielding.
"They're the ones from Kiri," she said. "H-Hunter-nin."
Every village had its own version, but Kiri's were different. Constant wars once drained the Mist's treasury to the point that the village's future was in danger. Their solution had been simple: do what they do best and kill.
Hunter-nin were an independent force. They hunted down the most valuable rogues in any country, chasing them to the ends of the earth, and turned lifeless heads into massive payouts. A single squad was said to be capable of slaughtering A-rank shinobi without giving them a chance to fight back. The lights of Suna stood out behind Hinata in the night, but the village was too far to expect reinforcements. Had they somehow come here for her?
"I-If I give myself up—" Hinata said.
"Hah!"
She flinched at the laugh, dryer and rougher than the sand they were standing on. More followed it, coming from right next to her.
"Hah! Hahaha! Hahahahahahahhaha! Hah!"
Gaara bent forward. Hinata had barely seen him smile; now he was laughing too hard to breathe. The hunter-nin moved like they shared one mind. Two of them pulled water out of the dry air, sending concentrated streams at Gaara.
Sand shot up to shield him. It turned dark as it was saturated. The other hunters shot toward him. Their blades cut through his weakened sand, aiming at Gaara's laughing body.
"Finally!"
Gaara spun to face the swords coming at him. Sand clung to half his body, enlarging one arm and covering half his face. The sand arm caught the blades like it was nothing. The hunter-nin leaped back.
There was nowhere to run.
Beneath them. To their left. To their right. In front of them. Behind them. It was all alive. How do you escape that?
They couldn't.
Wet sand was replaced by dry sand. Dodging one trap meant running into another. It wasn't a fight— in seconds, all four were suspended above the ground, sand nooses holding their throats. The leader's mask was knocked off, revealing the face of the greying woman who spoke to Naruto about her swords.
"We will never reveal our mission—!"
Crack!
Her neck snapped, and she was the lucky one. Blood came from her mouth after her death, spattering on Gaara's suit. He looked at it, his toothy grin shrinking slightly.
"Do it in a cleanly matter," he said in his normal voice.
"Fine!" he said, responding to himself in the beastly voice from before.
Sand slithered around the hunter-nin. They couldn't escape. They were encased, and then—
Bone by bone, joint by joint, the bodies inside were crushed. Hinata deactivated her Byakugan just in time… but somehow, being left with the sounds was even more gruesome.
"Bah! And here I thought it was something fun!" Gaara said. "Next time, we should drag it out more!"
The sand clinging to his left side fell to the ground. The dune ate the bodies seamlessly, keeping them out of sight. Gaara turned to Hinata. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped at his suit, attempting to remove the blood without luck.
"I apologize," he said. "I sensed rats creeping after my master, and had to attend to my duties in a timely manner. It wasn't my intention to frighten you. Shall we pick up where we left off?"
"...I th-think I'd like to go back for tonight," Hinata said.
"Of course. It's been a long day," Gaara said.
Almost as soon as they decided to return, the horizon became a storm. Far away, wind created a cyclone of sand strong enough that Hinata's hair was blown back.
"Ninjutsu!" she said. "Could it be more hunters?"
Gaara wasn't concerned.
"I think," he said, "that Naruto and my sister have finally found common ground."
He and Hinata watched the wind change shape and direction, doubling back on itself, still blustering at speeds that could tear a person into pieces.
"We should head back to the kage residence," Gaara said. "It could be quite a while before they make it home tonight."
O-O-O
Minutes earlier.
Naruto and Temari stood at opposite ends of a sand bluff. Leaning on her fan, Temari was tying her hair back, expertly locking it into four ponytails to keep it out of her face. She plucked the final hair tie out of her teeth and finished the job.
"Ready?" Naruto asked.
Temari spread her legs and bent her knees, hefting her fan.
"What are the rules?" she asked.
"Hmmmm. Wind jutsu only! First to surrender loses!"
Temari smirked broadly enough that Naruto could see it across the distance between them. "Don't be stubborn!" she said. "I wouldn't want you to get hurt!"
Naruto gestured for her to bring it, smirking back.
Temari opened her fan and swung it with all her might. Things started simple. Three wind blades shot toward Naruto, changing position and growing in size. Naruto flew through hand seals. When it got to him, Temari's wind curved around Naruto like a moon in orbit. He sent it back, focusing the three blades into a single one three times the size. That's how it began.
Temari swung her fan upward, redirecting his technique. She spun in a circle, feeding that momentum into her swing. Her second attack carried the wind from the first attack with it, doubling the size of the gust. She grinned. So did Naruto.
He split the wind in two down the middle and returned it in two curving paths, coming at Temari from both sides.
She jumped on her fan, letting the attack hit the sand and carry her up. She rode the tornado that appeared, surfing the deadly gusts and redirecting them back.
Naruto fell backwards. He used a new Fūton jutsu to buffer the existing wind, sending it skyward. A second technique sent it after Temari, targeting her from above as her fan slowly glided toward the ground.
She flipped over, blocking it with her fan, and allowed herself to be hurled toward the dunes. She let her legs sink into the sand when she landed, using it as a cushion, and threw her body forward. The wind that had been beating into her fan blasted straight at Naruto with blistering speed.
It was a dialogue. When Naruto blocked one of Temari's attacks he could feel the work it took to master her craft. When he sent it back, she could feel what it took for him to bring himself to this point. They had been smirking when they started. With every move, those smirks became thrilled grins. Tell me more. That was the message baked into every jutsu.
Hmph. I don't see what has you so excited, Kyu said. We could have burned her to a crisp already.
For once, Naruto ignored Kyu completely. This wasn't the time. His eyes traced Temari's latest attack, counting the swarm of wind blades until he ran out of time. He hadn't even gotten to half of them.
Even if he couldn't tell how many there were, he could stop them. Naruto erected a thick barrier of wind. When the blades hit it they were absorbed, their momentum redirected. Naruto gritted his teeth and gave his attack shape. He turned the wind into monstrous hands, reaching for Temari from either direction.
"Amazing!" Temari bellowed.
For the first time, Naruto was proud to get a compliment from her. This was the first one she had meant.
"Kuchiyose: One-Eyed Weasel!"
Black marks spread on the sand in front of Temari. A long white weasel appeared in a puff of smoke. It wore a jacket and a patch over its left eye. Its right eye took in the giant hands of wind bearing down on Temari.
"What have you summoned me into?" the weasel asked.
"I'll explain later, Kamatari!" Temari tilted her fan, resting it on her shoulder. "You can handle one, right?"
"Who do you think I am?" asked the weasel.
It shot forward like a missile, body turning invisible as wind surrounded it. Temari swung her fan in the opposite direction. Naruto's Fūton hands were ripped apart.
The weasel came at him from one side. Temari's jutsu came from the other side. Invisible blades dug trenches in the sand that reminded Naruto of Onoki's Particle Release.
This one could be dangerous, Kyu said. Deal with it.
Naruto took a deep breath.
He pulled in all the air he could. For a second, he forgot about the attacks coming toward him. He forgot everything. In front of his open mouth, a spinning ball formed. It started at the size of a grape, then jumped to the size of an apple, then a watermelon. The ball was made of threads of wind, each of them spinning in a different direction, the power inside it building endlessly.
On Naruto's left, Temari's weasel reappeared. It dove into the sand and abandoned its attack.
"Temari, dodge!" the weasel shouted.
Naruto relaxed his mouth. "Fūton: Beast Howl!"
Like that, he let go.
A beam of wind turned the air itself into an ultimate weapon. Thirty meters in diameter, it was too fast to avoid. Temari and her summon's strongest joint attack was knocked aside like a genin's first jutsu.
Temari stared at the force of nature coming at her. There was nothing she could do. She squeezed her fan, forced to watch.
Naruto snapped his neck up. The angle of the beam changed, passing over Temari's head. Three-hundred meters behind her the wind hit one of the bluffs that surrounded Suna. It cut a canyon into it, digging through stone like it was made from foam.
"S-rank…" Temari said.
The night calmed down, the air finally allowed to settle. Naruto jogged toward Temari, grinning. "Do I win?"
"Obviously, I give up," Temari said. "And…"
"What was that?" Naruto leaned closer. "It was too quiet. I couldn't hear you."
Temari grabbed his yukata collar, dragging him into a kiss with full-tongue.
"That," she said. "Now come closer. I've got so much more to tell you."