Itachi and Deidara continued to listen to their little brother rant about his life in the village, being the Anbu captain, being the temporary "Hokage", having double amounts of paperwork when the real Hokage forced the position on him, and about his genin team. Itachi asked questions about the emo duckbutt, a.k.a his biological little brother and Deidara asked about hoe the village still treated him. When Naruto told him, Deidara grinned oh so nicely.

"Oh, really? Well, I have a few presents that I would like them to have for treating you oh so kindly," Deidara threatened.

Naruto sweatdropped at his biological older brother and held his hands up. Dei could be really overprotective and scary when he wanted to be. Something he got from Kushina most-likely.

There will be a major time skip to the chunin exams.

For the last few months, life was relatively normal. Naruto was still commander of the Anbu and had to split his time with his genin team, doing missions and whatnot, and being the Anbu commander. He almost always had double the amount of paperwork since Hiruzen always is too lazy to do it himself. He still had to do S-SSS rank missions at times but they went by very quickly. And Tora was still hateful to other people except for Naruto of course.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, I was held up by Tora," Naruto explained as he reached his genin team. Although, Kakashi knew that that wasn't the truth. In reality, Nauto was really held back by an SSS rank mission that took him a few minutes longer than normal, he still had to give his report to the Hokage and in addition to that, he was even more busy than normal since the chunin exams were about to take place. This year, the exams will be held at Konoha so Kitsune had to work triple the amount of work he usually did. His team nodded in acknowledgment as they all tuned towards Kakashi.

"Well then my cute little genins!" Kakashi said cheerily. Naruto twitched at the comment but decided to kill is subordinate later. Kakashi noticed and feared for his life but continued. She fulled out a few pieces of paper from his jacket and handed it to them.

"Sensei? What is this?" Sakura asked as she took one of the papers.

"I have decided to enlist you all in the chunin exams!" Kakashi smiled.

Sasuke nodded as he took the other paper. Naruto sighed as he took the last piece. They all looked at it as Kakashi started talking. "Now all you need to do it sign the form and give it to me later." (I forgot how it went in the original but meh) Everyone nodded. Kakashi smiled, "You are all dismissed."

Team 7 all nodded then turned and left. When Sasuke and Sakura were out of view, Naruto immediately shunshined to the Hokage's office after putting his mask on. Kitsune shunshined in front of the Hokage's desk this time instead of bursting in from the window.

"Kitsune," The Hokage greeted.

"Hokage-sama," Kitsune greeted back.

"What brings you here?"

"The chunin exams."

"Ahhh, I see. Kakashi has already given you the form correct?" Kitsune nodded. "Good, so what brings you here then?"

"My last mission. The SSS-rank mission that you sent me on to the village hidden in the sand," Naruto started.

"What about it?" Hiruzen asked.

"Our suspicions have been confirmed. The sand is allying with the sound and they are plotting against us. As we both know from the intel that I have gathered, Orochimaru is the leader of the sound village and is most likely going to be at the upcoming chunin exams, disguised of course. I was notified by Gaara when I traveled to the sand."

Gaara is Naruto's spy in the hidden sand. Since he's the son of one of their Kazekages, he plays a major role in the ruling of the village. Naruto met Gaara when they were quite young. Although, Naruto was not Anbu commander yet at that time.

Naruto was on one of his missions with his team to retrieve a scroll from the hidden sand's Kazekage when he came across a child running past him. He looked up and saw who the child was running away from, a little boy around his age who had red hair and black lines around his eyes. Tears were streaming down the child's face as he sobbed and curled up into a ball. Naruto immediately was reminded of his own childhood. He turned towards his team and told them to go ahead without him. The rest of his team looked at each other, shrugged, and jumped away. Kitsune walked up to the boy and rested his hand on his hair. The boy looked up at the blonde with teary eyes. Kitsune smiled gently behind his mask.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked as he crouched down to the boy's height. The little boy just cried harder as he buried his head back into himself. Naruto smiled empathetically and he spoke again, "What's your name?"

"G-gaara..." The boy mumbled. Kitsune smiled as he pulled the boy into an embrace. Gaara's eyes widened but eventually, emotion took over him and he clung onto the blonde's shirt. He sobbed into Kitsune's chest as Naruto stroked his back. He let out all of the emotions that he bottled up over the years of abuse and pain. The villagers looked at them like they were crazy although Kitsune shot them glances that immediately made them regret their decision. After a few moments, of sobbing Gaara finally let go and looked up at the blonde.

"Mr.? Who are you?" Gaara asked.

Naruto hesitated but sighed. Even though no one is supposed to know who he is behind the mask, he decided he would make just one exception. "My name is Naruto although my code name is Kitsune."

"Naruto-san?"

"Naruto is fine,"

The boy nodded and looked at Naruto. "Naruto? How old are you? You looked like the same age as I am."

"Yes, I am. Follow me." Naruto said and Gaara nodded. They ducked into an alley and into the shadows. Naruto put up a silence seal and took off his mask. Gaara gasped as he saw the most beautiful and well-defined face he has ever seen, Naruto smiled at his reaction and drew him closer into an embrace, Suddenly, there was a plume of smoke and a relatively large orange fox appeared out of it. Gaara was shocked as he buried his head deeper into the crook of Naruto's neck.

"Don't worry. He won't hurt you." Naruto comforted.

"Mother is scared," Gaara shivered.

"Mother?"

Gaara nodded, "I think he is the reason why no one wants to be near me or play with me."

Naruto nodded and looked at Kurama. He nodded in understanding and turned towards the red-head. Naruto slowly pried the child away from him and gently tilted his head towards him. Naruto's eyes started shifting forms as it spiraled into the pattern of his Mangekyo Sharingan. His normally piercing blue eyes turned bloodred as he stared at the one tail's jinchuriki. Gaara gasped as he collapsed into Naruto and fell unconscious. In the blink of an eye, Naruto was standing in front of the One Tails Shukaku. Kurama was right beside him in his normal form. They both looked at the Tanuki as he cowered in fear. Naruto sighed as he deactivated his Mangekyo.

"Hn?"

"My father was part Uchiha," Naruto explained. Shukaku nodded in understanding. "Now for what I'm going to do with you. Do you want me to redo the seal or do you want to be let free?"

Naruto nodded, "But under one circumstance."

"You have to quit making Gaara feel miserable and somewhat befriend him." The One Tails nodded. "Good, I'll wake him and you can have some alone time together. I have to get back to my mission. Tell Gaara everything that happened between us but leave out the fact that I have the Mangekyo. That will have to stay a secret for now."

Shukaku nodded as Naruto walked up to the seal. He ripped off the tag and the cage opened. Shukaku thanked him as he ran up to his brother and tackled him. They fought for a bit until Kurama dominated him and pinned him down with a few of his tails.

Naruto facepalmed. "Are you guys really older than me?" The 2 tailed beasts looked at him and sweatdropped. "Anyway, Shukaku, I'm going to make a mental link with you. Come here. Kurama, you too." They both obeyed and walked over to him. Naruto placed his hand on the Tanuki first and made a link. Then he placed his other hand on Kurama and connected the 3. After that, he finally woke up the red-head and brought him into his mindscape after propping him up against a wall. Naruto waved a hand over his face and Gaara's eyes shot open. He looked around and his eyes finally landed on Naruto. He ran up to him and buried his face in his neck. Naruto smiled as he stroked Gaara's back. Even though they were around the same age, Naruto is a lot wiser and is starting to sort of act like a brother- figure towards him. After a few moments, Gaara pulled away and looked at his surroundings. He finally saw a large object that was a sandy-yellow color and had a tail curled up around the body. There was also another object that was orange and had nine tails swishing around wildly. He traced the objects upwards and saw 2 huge faces. One of them he realized was Mother and the other looked to be a large fox. He gasped and buried his face in Naruto's chest once again. Naruto chuckled as he patted his back.

"Shukaku, I believe you know what to do?" Naruto smirked. He nodded as Naruto gently pried the boy away.

"Gaara, your "mother" is the one-tails. Since you hold a tailed beast, the term you are sometimes addressed as will be Jinchuriki. Like you, I am also the same. I hold the nine-tails. My life..." Naruto hesitated but continued, "was and is also very similar to yours. I am sorry you had to endure it all."

Gaara shook his head, "I-its not your fault and you had to endure it all too... the yelling and screaming? The fact that you were outcasted and no one wanted to play with you?" he sobbed. Naruto smiled sadly and stroked his back.

"Well, yeah..." 'It was a bit more than that, unfortunately...' Naruto thought.

"Your name is Sabaku no Gaara right?" Naruto asked.

Gaara nodded, "How did you know?"

"You are the son of the fourth Kazekage from my intel and documents. I've done my research," Naruto winked and Gaara giggled. "Anyway, I need to return to my mission. I will come back to check on you when I finish. I'm going to make a mental link for you so we can communicate between large distances. I have removed your seal and Shukaku, you know him as the one tails, has promised me that he won't annoy you anymore. Right?" Naruto glared. Shukaku nodded his head fiercely. Naruto smiled and turned his head back towards the red-head.

Gaara was shocked, 'Mother is scared of Naruto?" Naruto laughed, knowing exactly what went through his brain.

"Well, yes he's is scared of me but I won't hurt him. Well, unless it is absolutely necessary of course. He's my friend, just like Kurama." Naruto whispered. Shukaku's eyes widened. Never in all of history has anyone considered him a friend beside the old man. He looked towards Kurama and saw an unusual glint in his eyes. He suddenly remembered something that his old man said in the past when he was young.

"I will not live much longer... Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu. Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, Gyuki, and Kurama, even if you are far apart, you will always be together. There will come a time when you will be united again. Each of you with a unique name and a different form than before. And unlike when you were inside me, you will be guided down the right path. I hope you learn what true strength is. Before that time...

Shukaku looked towards his oldest brother and he looked back.

After Naruto was done talking he spoke to the tanuki, "Shukaku, yes I consider you a friend just like your brother. I hope we can get along," Naruto smiled. Shukaku sighed but was internally shocked yet again.

Shukaku pouted which made Naruto laugh. "Anyway, Shukaku, I believe you know what to do?" He nodded and Naruto turned to Kurama. "Let's go," Kurama nodded as well. Lastly, Naruto turned towards the red-head. "You and Shukaku are going to get some alone time together. Don't worry he won't hurt you. I believe over time, you will become great friends." Gaara nodded in understanding. Naruto smiled and finally put on his mask as he backed out of the mindscape. Kurama was back inside him ans he jumped away to meet up with his team.