Gaara is suspicious (and rightfully so)
Naruto raised his eyebrows. He didn't look upset, or angry, not yet. It was like the news hadn't fully processed. He couldn't muster any emotion besides shock.
Gaara's reaction was similar.
"We're gonna what?" Naruto asked, as though he'd misheard.
He hadn't.
Baki took a deep breath.
"...Attack Konoha. That's why we're going there for the chunin exams. We're going to start a war. Or rather, you two are going to start a war."
Gaara furrowed his eyebrows, curious. He didn't look as though he gave much of a damn at all.
"Why?" he asked. He looked at Baki through narrowed eyes. "What's a war going to do?"
Baki stood standing straight with his arms crossed against the fence of the training block, pretending to remain unfazed.
"...The Land of Wind has been in a peaceful period for years," he began. "Meaning the need for a Shinobi Village is decreasing. A bill will pass that will defund military training, leaving the country open to attack."
Naruto scoffed. "You're attacking because you're scared of getting attacked? That's stupid."
"It's more complicated than that," Baki said. "Defunding us will not only leave the Land of Wind relatively defenseless, we'll need to outsource for ninja — relying on that is a problem by itself. Plus, the bill will cause hundreds of sand ninja their jobs. People will die."
"People will die if you start a war!" Naruto shouted. "We might die! Are you stupid?"
Baki didn't have an answer. Naruto leaned back, crossing his arms. He wouldn't meet his mentor's eyes.
Gaara frowned.
"Why wouldn't you tell us this sooner?" he demanded. Naruto's anger must've been contagious. "What's the point of hiding it?"
Baki shifted on his feet. He didn't particularly enjoy being yelled at, even by twelve-year-olds. He probably should have chosen a different career.
"...If you'd known the purpose of the mission," he said, "you'd have resisted training. This would've been made impossible."
"Because the whole thing is bullshit!" Naruto exclaimed. "You're making me attack my old village?"
Baki inhaled shakily.
"For what it's worth," he said, "the council voted. The majority believe—"
"Fuck the majority," Gaara spat. "And fuck the council. Why would you make us do this?"
Baki gnashed his teeth, clenched his fists.
"I don't have a damn choice!" he snapped. Gaara and Naruto winced.
And then the tension he'd been holding released, and he breathed.
With a somber voice, he said, "And... neither do you."
That was that.
Naruto and Gaara were now nearly thirteen years old.
Gaara had not yet figured out the mystery of people. Instead, he saw them as pawns. Tools. Means to an end.
Not Naruto, though. Naruto was like him.
Gaara had a constant mask of indifference. Although, to be considered a mask, it would have to be fake. And it wasn't. Gaara genuinely didn't care.
He had deep red hair, cut badly by Naruto in a bathroom. His eyes were light green with black marks around them. The mark of the One-tail, his father called it, but Naruto always said he resembled a raccoon. And raccoons are better than monsters.
Gaara'd had, since birth, constant access to Shukaku's chakra. He was able to control the beast's sand, and use jutsu that no normal Shinobi could use.
That, he assumed, was where he and Naruto differed the most.
Naruto was cheerful and kind. He saw every person as an equal. Which was truly a shame, because Gaara knew that they weren't equal. Not by any means.
He had blonde hair, fluffy and sun-bleached and cut by Gaara (who was significantly better at doing hair than Naruto). His eyes were a nice cherry red, and what his father called "the mark of the nine-tails" were three dashes along his cheeks. It made him look like a weird cat.
And Naruto'd had Kurama sealed. All his life, he was unable to fight back or help himself because the one thing that could've protected him was locked away. Now, though, Gaara had chosen to take that role, and the nine-tails could stay dormant, as it should be.
Gaara often wondered if Naruto would've been more like him, if he had the voice of the beast in his head all day. The violent urges, the bloodthirstiness, the shouting.
Or maybe it was because he was less powerful than those who'd hurt him, before. He didn't have the means to overcome them, so he saw himself as inferior, instead of what he was.
Better.
Which is why this whole war thing was so stupid. What did it matter if the economy crashed, if people died? Who gave a damn if the entire Land of Wind burned to the ground, so long as Naruto was kept out of the crossfire?
Naruto didn't like when Gaara thought like that. He genuinely believed every person was equal, no matter their strength or will.
He was naive.
Naruto knew something was up when Gaara entered his room, late one night.
He began to speak before Naruto could even get out of bed.
"We need to find Baki," he says. His voice was a harsh whisper.
Naruto blinked.
"What? Why?"
"I have questions. Something isn't right."
Naruto groaned. He stood up, stretched, and sighed.
"What do you need me for?"
"You can read him," Gaara said. "You can tell if he's lying."
"So?"
Gaara crossed his arms, impatient.
"He won't betray the Kazekage. With you there, he won't need to."
"Fine. I understand. But... Gaara, it's one o'clock. He'll be asleep."
"Then wake him up. Let's go."
Gaara was already out the door just as Naruto started to formulate a response.
He let out a long-suffering sigh and followed.
Nobody was around to judge when Naruto and Gaara rode a little sand ferry up to Baki's apartment. It was too late for judgement.
The pair approached their mentor's couch-bed, frowning.
"Isn't he... supposed to be there?" Naruto asked, confused.
"...Yes. Yes, he is."
They stared.
"But... he's not."
"Evidently."
"Why?"
Gaara looked at Naruto blankly.
"How could I possibly know that?"
Naruto frowned.
"Hey, I don't know! You're the smart one!"
"That is true."
They turned their attention back to the empty couch.
"This is a problem," Naruto said, "right?"
Gaara nodded.
He sighed.
"...Well, shit."
Both boys left the apartment feeling sick. And for good reason.
What sort of jonin would go out without locking their damn window, anyways?
Rasa explained the plan in further depth.
They would go to Konoha, make it through the first two exams. On the day of the final battle, Gaara would go batshit and murder all the leaf shinobi he could. Naruto would both make sure Gaara didn't get murdered and also assist in murdering.
Kankuro would be with them to give instruction while Baki was off doing whatever he was meant to do.
Which was, apparently, a lot. The boys hadn't heard from him in days. Rasa told them he was on a mission, but neither really believed it. Though Gaara didn't seem to trust much of anything the man said. Suspicion morphed his featured every time Rasa spoke.
Eventually, Gaara shared his concerns with Naruto. Yet another midnight in Naruto's bedroom. The atmosphere was tense.
They sat on the floor across from one another, speaking quietly.
"They want you to be like me," Gaara said. "Right? Have constant access to the Kyuubi's chakra?"
"That's right." Naruto nodded. "Where's this going?"
"Why did you come to Sunagakure?" Gaara asked.
"Um... because it was unsafe for me in Konoha, I think."
"Exactly." Gaara's tone was grave. "Why would they train you so hard, just to keep you safe from civilians?"
"To turn me into a shinobi?" Naruto said. He didn't understand what Gaara was getting at.
"No. To turn you into a weapon." Gaara leaned forward. "The Kazekage is trying to make you like me. He wants a pair of weapons. To him, we're hardly human. Couldn't you tell?"
Naruto swallowed. He shifted uncomfortably.
"I'm not surprised. But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Maybe, the Kazekage is using us to attack the leaf so he doesn't have to give you back," Gaara said. "Maybe he's stupid like that."
"I don't know," Naruto said. "I don't think he came up with the plan. Otogakure suggested the attack, right? Wouldn't they have done the thinking?"
"They'd have collaborated."
"This is getting kinda conspiratorial, Gaara, even for you," Naruto joked — though he couldn't help but feel like something really was off. "Can't we change the subject?"
"No!"
Both boys winced at the sudden noise. Gaara sighed though his nose.
"No," he repeated, softer. "We need to figure out what's going on. I think trusting any information we get would be... unwise."
"Should we still cooperate?" Naruto asked.
"For now. Until we have solid proof. This is just speculation."
Somewhere, something grinned.
Some months passed.
The exams were mere weeks away.
Baki still had not returned.
Naruto had wondered if he was dead. Cried about it, too. But Gaara explained that he wouldn't have been included in the plan, had his death been even a remote possibility.
Gaara pretended not to care about Baki, but he did. Naruto could tell. And he was probably just as worried as Naruto was.
They'd been discussing theories on where Baki was — ranging from the Asphodel Meadows to The Astral Plane to Up Your Mom's Ass — when the door to Gaara's room opened.
Naruto felt a chill immediately. Chakra sparked at his fingertips, and he breathed deeply to subdue it.
But his breaths were shaky, and the awful scent of fear clung to him.
Gaara wasn't much better. His heart was racing, his breathing was shallow.
Not even sand had the nerve to move.
The face of the Kazekage peered through the door, a hollow smile adorning it.
"Temari would like to see you in the training area," he said pleasantly, with the vocals and the mannerisms that were undoubtedly Rasa's.
Gaara and Naruto nodded, scrambling to their feet.
The Kazekage walked down the hallway, leaving the door open. The boys were still until the man's footsteps were no longer audible.
Neither said a word until they were out of the house.
Gaara was shivering, as though he'd experienced an adrenaline rush. His hands twitched. The sand around him rustled, agitated.
Naruto's eyes were wide. Every muscle was tense. A chakra reaction was, for some reason, triggered. It moved rapidly, almost tangible underneath his skin.
"That," Gaara said quietly, "is not my father."
Temari was sitting outside the gate to the training block, fiddling with a puzzle cube.
Naruto and Gaara approached her. She stood up when they were a few meters away and spoke, her eyes bright.
"I know it's your day off, but I had to call you here. You're gonna freak out."
The boys glanced at each other, apprehensive. The last time she'd "surprised" them, it involved Gaara nearly drowning and several tardigrades. And considering their current uneasy situation? Their distrust was entirely warranted.
Temari sighed.
"Baki. He's back."
The boys perked up, their eyes widening. A grin crept onto Naruto's face. Temari chuckled.
"He's in his apartment," she said. "Don't bother him too bad."
Gaara nodded sharply, but Naruto had already dashed away, not bothering to wait.
The pair sprinted to their mentor's apartment, running in to several pedestrians along the way. Naruto called out apologies, but he needn't have bothered. He was already out of earshot.
Once they reached Baki's apartment building, against their better instinct to burst inside and tackle him, the boys slowed to a stop, considering their options.
"Do you think Baki will..." Naruto sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Do you think he'll be different? It's been months."
Gaara thought.
"After a three month long mission, he'll be terrified."
They looked up to the window of his apartment. Gaara let the sand around them swirl anxiously.
"...Do you think we can still trust him?" Gaara finally asked.
The very thought of distrusting his mentor made Naruto want to cry. He swallowed a lump in his throat.
"Of course we can," he said. "It's Baki."
Gaara put his hands on his hips, continuing to stare at the window. Naruto looked at Gaara curiously.
"...Until we know we can trust him, we shouldn't tell him about Rasa," Gaara decided. "Or any theories we have. He's still a sand ninja."
"...What did you mean?" Naruto asked. He bit his cheek nervously. "He cares about us more than he cares about his job."
Gaara's expression remained fairly neutral; he couldn't have Naruto knowing just how upset he really was.
"I know." Gaara frowned. "But he could be getting blackmailed. Threatened. I know Rasa's willing. A 'prioritize the village, or die' mindset."
Naruto nearly sobbed. How could he not trust the man who he loved like a father? Who loved them like sons?
"I hate it as much as you do," Gaara said. And as hard as it was to tell, he really did feel awful. "But I don't see another option."
The boys were silent for a moment.
Then, Naruto inhaled shakily.
"I understand. I really hate it, but... I'll do it."
"Okay."
They looked at one another. The realization finally dawned on Naruto that he could trust nobody but his friend.
Gaara frowned. Disillusionment was a harsh thing. Gaara'd first experienced it the day of the assassination, five years ago. But Naruto?
He was naive.
As per usual, Naruto took Gaara's hand. Gaara squeezed, a slight break in tradition, and the sand underneath their feet hardened. With a small jolt, they were brought up to the window.
Naruto climbed clumsily through, and then Gaara followed. Years of doing this hadn't improved their skills in the slightest; Naruto was on his back on the floor.
Gaara pulled him up, and the pair stood tensely as the footsteps of their mentor reverberated around the kitchen. They watched as he tried to crack an egg on a bowl. It wasn't working all that well.
"I thought you knew better than to cook," Naruto said, and he couldn't help but grin.
Baki turned, startled. But he saw the boys, and his eyes seemed to light up. He smiled.
And fuck, he looked awful. Thin and pale and so goddamn tired. His clothes were incredibly loose, and hung off him as though they'd never fit in the first place.
Naruto and Gaara shared a glance. He was worse off than they'd expected, even in Gaara's worst-case scenario. (Naruto's involved torture and death, which was deemed illogical.)
"Naruto. Gaara." He nodded at them as he spoke. "It's good to see you."
His voice was hoarse.
Naruto wrung his hands nervously. He didn't meet his mentor's eyes as he moved forward.
Baki stood, eyeing him passively.
Gaara frowned.
Tentatively, Naruto wrapped his arms around his mentor, eyes squeezed shut.
Baki faltered for a moment, but he eventually returned the hug, chuckling lightly.
It didn't feel like it used to.