Chapter Text
Sasuke’s leap from the railing brought much glee from the teenage girls that made up an extensive portion of the audience above them. While the Uchiha tried not to look too affected by the applause and fanfare coming his way, Gaara opted to take a much humbler route to get to the arena floor below.
He opted for the stairs, much to the chagrin of everyone in the viewing area, and especially the occupant he shares his body with.
“Why the hell didn't you jump down?! Or use your sand for that matter?” Shukaku grumbled as Gaara made his way through the empty hallway that led to the stairwell. “Why take the stairs?”
“First of all: You’re acting as if you’re the one that actually has to take the steps to get down to the battlefield.” Gaara thought, a little amused by the tanuki’s demeanor. “You’re getting riled up when you don’t need to Shukaku.”
“I fear that one of us is not approaching what’s to come with the focus it deserves,” The tailed beast grumbled, barely hiding his annoyance. “You're only delaying the inevitable dammit! Don't you have any sense of urgency?!”
"I wanted to try something different this time around, you grouchy tanuki . . . I think it would be best to take the limited time I have to come up with a strategy for beating Sasuke.”
“You want to come up with a plan?”
“It’s better than leaping into things headfirst," Came Gaara's calm response as he turned the corner. "To cut to the chase, we have no idea what Sasuke has planned for this match. The fact he kept himself well-hidden throughout the past few weeks made sure of that . . . Sometimes it's just best to think with your head before your fists first, or sand, in our case."
“Fair point, but still . . . Our strategy against previous opponents has worked before. Why wouldn't it work now?” Shukaku asked as footsteps could be heard coming up from behind the redhead. ”Sure, the dark-haired brat may have a good idea on what you’ll pull during the match, but our strategy is practically timeless!”
“Timeless you say? It’s only been successful because no one has been able to effectively counter it yet.”
“Just overwhelm him with sand,” Shukaku pushed on, practically ignoring what Gaara just said. “Not only can you squish him like a bug with it, but the boy can't do shit if his Sharingan gets obscured.”
"Hm, that is true . . .” Gaara thought, coming to a stop when he realized that someone was calling him from somewhere behind him.
Turning his head, he saw two Fire shinobi staring at him, and judging from the sinister grins on their faces, whatever they had planned was not going to be positive.
Positive for them that is.
"This is going to end well . . ." Gaara thought as he watched the two slowly move toward him.
“Look at it this way: You’re getting some practice in before the main event truly starts,” Shukaku pressed. “Now, I’m usually one for playing with my food, but you still have a fight to get to, so make it quick before they send the ANBU after us.”
“I’m usually not one for taking your advice, but I’m willing to make an exception . . . this time around,” The young prince conceded as the two older men came to a stop mere foot from him. “Can I help you two?”
"Apologies for bumping into you like this, your Royal Highness,” said the man on the left, his words slightly slurred in an obvious sign of his drunkenness. “But do you mind having a word with two measly peasants like us?"
“And what exactly do you want to talk to me about?” Gaara decided to ask, already growing tired before he could even hear what the two men could possibly say.
"You see, the two of us ended up betting a lot of money on your match with Lord Uchiha," said the other one, who appeared completely sober as he gestured between himself and his friend. "And we need to make sure we win that bet."
“Hmm, sounds like a bad decision on your part.” The prince mumbled as he started to turn away, only to stop when the familiar sound of a kunai slipping out of a ninja pack reached his ears.
When he turned around, the drunk shinobi was holding the weapon in his hand, halfway into a battle-ready stance.
"Well, there are ways for us to get out of such bad decisions . . .” The drunk shinobi mused as he juggled his kunai around his fingers.
“You see, we happened to bet that Uchiha would beat you, and . . . well, after hearing about what you did to that Lee kid during the preliminaries, we figured you'll be quite a wrench in our plans for a big payday." The sober shinobi admitted as he pulled out a kunai. "So, we thought: why don't we pitch in and even out the playing field a little bit huh?”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
"They really are that fucking stupid . . ." Gaara asked, so shocked by the idiocy he was witnessing that he cursed in his head. "Getting drunk in the daytime, making a poorly thought-out bet, threatening a foreign royal and risking animosity between our two kingdoms . . . I fear that the Fire Kingdom has some imbeciles contained within their ranks."
“Every kingdom is guilty of this, yours included,” Shukaku mumbled, not really appreciating his host’s comment. “Well, if there’s a silver lining to this, at least you'll get some practice in before you have to go beat the Uchiha.”
"I'm not going to attack them, Shukaku."
“They’re planning to attack you though . . .” Shukaku argued back as the sober shinobi brought his hands up closer to his face, ready to start a jutsu. ”So, what are you going to do about it? Sit back and let them use you as a punching bag?!”
There was no way in hell that Gaara was going to let the two men do that, or allow Shukaku to have his fun for that matter. His pride, as well as his tendency to not do what the tanuki wanted him to do, wouldn't allow it.
Plus, he already killed one person outside of the competition. He didn't need to add two more.
However, considering how the two shinobi looked like they were not going to stop their misguided antics any time soon, he was starting to think that falling into Shukaku’s influence again for just a few seconds wouldn’t hurt.
Gaara was about to send his sand to immobilize the two when their eyes widened at the sight of something behind him. Now noticing the sound of approaching footsteps, the young prince turned to find the slightly disheveled-looking Naruto walking up to them with an unreadable expression on his face.
To the redhead, the look was a little unnatural on the naturally welcoming face he has gotten used to. He had seen the blonde smile, chat, and laugh with people so much that he felt a little off-guard at the expression he was looking at now: a more calculating, stern face more suited on an elder’s than his own.
Every time Gaara thought he had the blonde all figured out, something would happen that would force him to recalibrate his thinking. Naruto was becoming a curious enigma to him, a puzzle that was becoming harder and harder to solve.
"Huh, I hope I'm not interrupting anything," The blonde mused, his face now splitting into the familiar grin the redhead was so used to seeing on his tan, whiskered face. "Things sounded pretty intense as I was walking up the stairwell.”
"There's nothing wrong here, my prince!" The coherent shinobi was quick to say as he put down his hands, attempting to look as innocent as possible as the blonde continued his approach, stopping when he was standing next to Gaara, much to his chagrin. "We simply . . . wanted to wish Prince Gaara luck. Lord Sasuke is a tough opponent to go against after all. . . Isn't that right Shinji?"
"Yeah!" The other shinobi was quick to say as he tried to put away his kunai.
Emphasis on tried. He was so inebriated that he ended up dropping the weapon to the ground, the metal clanking loudly as it hit the surface.
If Gaara was a more emotional person, he would have immediately scowled at such stupidity.
Instead, he kept his face neutral, leaving Shukaku to laugh at the stupidity in his stead.
"You were wishing Prince Gaara luck . . . huh?" Naruto asked, his tone indicating that he wasn’t believing the charade either. "That would have been plausible, if only I hadn't heard you guys talking about your bet earlier . . ."
The two shinobi instantly paled as they realized that they were caught red-handed. Not only were they caught trying to accost a foreign dignitary, but they had also lied about their intentions in the face of their Crown Prince.
Gaara took a moment to watch them squirm, now mildly amused by the entire thing. However, despite his growing curiosity, he knew he couldn't stay to see what would happen next.
He still had a match to get to after all.
"I would love to stay and continue this lovely conversation, but I have a match to get to and I prefer to get there before nightfall," The redhead announced as he started making his exit. "I'm sure the crowd is getting restless out there wondering where the hell I am . . ."
"I didn't peg you for someone who cared about the audience’s feelings," Naruto mused as Gaara walked past him, his comment making his fellow prince visibly pause. "Don't worry . . . Sasuke is probably enjoying having the limelight all to himself out there."
"I highly doubt it. Your teammate doesn't seem like the kind of guy to care about the adoration of others, no matter how much of it is heaped his way. . . He's probably wondering where I am so he could kick my ass already," Gaara countered, figuring it was probably for the best if he just used his sand to get down to the field. "So, before I go, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you going to do with the two idiots over there?"
"Oh, don't worry about them. I have them covered . . . You, on the other hand, have bigger things to worry about, remember?"
When Naruto turned his head, the sight of his eyes made Gaara go still, and if he had been a weaker man, he would have visibly flinched too.
Instead of his ocean blue eyes, his eyes were a bright crimson red, the dark pupils now slit like a cat's own.
In the moment, he knew he was not looking the prince in the eye.
He was looking at his nine-tailed occupant.
"Go on. I'll handle things here." He said, turning back around so quickly that the two men practically jumped back in fear.
“You heard the kid . . . GET MOVING!”
"I'm going, I’m going," Gaara mumbled as he quickly used his sand shunshin to get closer to the field, leaving the blonde to deal with his idiotic subjects alone.
As the exit became more apparent to his sights, the redhead listened as the crowd grew louder above him. They sounded a little restless, but he chalked it up more to the vocal minority, aka Sasuke's fangirls, were making their voices known more than the general audience itself.
“Shit. . I don’t have much time to strategize now do I?"
“Not in the slightest, but lucky for you, my strategy still stands . . . It all depends on if you’re willing to use it.”
“We’ll see about that . . .” Was all that Gaara was willing to say as he finally stepped out into the sunlight.
As soon as he stepped out into public view, the young redhead was greeted by some welcoming applause, though he knew it would have been much louder if he had come out minutes quicker. When he dared to peek at the royal box to take in his father's reaction, he couldn't help but smirk as he noticed the annoyed look the man couldn’t keep out from his gaze.
“At least your old man looks happy . . .” Shukaku complained, utilizing as much sarcasm as he could muster as he walked toward the middle of the arena.
"Downright annoyed is more like it, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Your petty side has always been one of your better ones.”
"Coming from you, it means a lot . . . ”
“Hey! Don’t turn that pettiness on me now!”
X - x - With the others - x - X
"Oh, there you are Naruto!" Haruka called out as the blonde in question finally stepped into the room, his signature grin already in place.
"Congratulations on winning your match brother,” Shizuka said in greeting as he approached. “You flattened poor Neji like a pancake down there.”
“Eh, he, I may have put a little too much chakra in that Rasengan,” Naruto quietly conceded, scratching the back of his neck with a sheepish look on face.
“And you certainly took your damn sweet time getting up here!" Haruka added, smirking slightly. “Had to reflect on your actions or something?”
"Nah, I was just a little delayed, that's all." The crown prince mumbled as he walked over to the railing, his words immediately making his sister suspicious.
Catching her gaze, Naruto quietly shook his head, and she nodded in turn, knowing that he’ll explain himself later. "Did I miss anything important?"
"Nope. . . In fact, they haven't even started yet," Shikamaru mumbled as he looked down at the field. "Prince Gaara just emerged from the tunnel, but if you ask me, he should have been out there a while ago."
“You're only saying that because the quicker these battles go, the quicker you can take your daily nap.” Haruka argued as she turned to the boy.
“That is a claim I will not deny.”
"Hmm, you think something delayed him along the way?" Nanami asked as she turned to the shadow bender. “. . . Or someone?”
"It's the most likely assumption to make," said the Nara heir as he observed the redhead, his gaze as lazy as his entire demeanor, carrying an intellect that contrasted with his youth. "I highly doubt he's the type to take a quick bathroom break right as he's about to compete in one of the most important matches in his life. . . Something must have happened to him on the way down to delay him."
"I wonder what that could be . . ." Kankuro mumbled, genuinely curious as to what it could be. Temari, on the other hand, remained silent, sneaking a look at the Crown Prince as he talked to his twin. "Sis, is something wrong?"
"I'm not too sure," she mumbled as she turned to him. "The twins over there are talking amongst themselves, though Naruto looks to be doing most of the talking."
"Any guess what they could be talking about?"
"Hm . . . actually, I may have an idea," Temari mumbled. "Aside from leaping off the railing, there is only one way to get from here to the field below . . . I think Gaara ran into Naruto along the way."
"You think they talked?"
"Talked . . . chatted . . . threatened each other with bodily harm . . . gloated that they would be the one to win this entire damn thing. Well, maybe not that last one . . ." Temari trailed off with a shrug. "Honestly, anything is on the table at this point."
"Well . . ." Kankuro mumbled as the two looked down at their sibling. "Things just get more interesting by the second."
“And yet,” Temari questioned. “. . . I can’t help but wonder if all that ‘interest’ is going to be good or bad for us in the end.”
“Must you be a downer sis.”
“Shut it.”
X - x - Back with Gaara - x - X
"Well, you took your sweet time getting down here . . ." Sasuke mumbled as Gaara finally approached him and the referee, his sentiment undoubtedly shared by many in the surrounding audience.
"Apologies for my lateness . . . I was a little held up along the way," Gaara simply responded as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Then again, I'm sure you weren’t too bothered by it . . . I could hear the shouts of many of your adoring fans from the stairwell.”
"Pfft, don't remind me," Sasuke grumbled, annoyance lacing his tone. "Trust me, it's not something I take in stride."
"I had a feeling you were the kind of guy that wouldn't . . . After all, having all these admirers goes against the ethos of being a ninja," Gaara mumbled as the audience started buzzing with excitement, his words getting a nod of agreement from Genma himself.
"Now then, shall we get this battle started? I'm sure I've kept you waiting long enough."
"Hmm, it's like you've read my mind . . ." Sasuke conceded, falling right into a fighting stance.
"Well then, since the two of you are in agreement, let’s not waste any more time,” Genma declared as he took a step back.
"Let the second match: BEGIN!"