Naruto: Fourth Hokage

"SHUT UP!," Shukaku roared, "I'LL HAVE THE BLOOD OF YOUR JINCHUURIKI YET!"

"You're too weak to even hope to accomplish that," Kyuubi-figure taunted, "Just as weak as the person who sealed you in that decrepit cage of yours. Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee!"

"Stop it Kyuubi," Naruto ordered.

"You were sealed by a weakling who was nothing more than a false seal master," Kyuubi-figure continued, "Whereas I was sealed by a true and strong seal master. In spite of your lack of intelligence, I think you can see a repeating pattern."

Gaara watched as the two bijuus quarreled with each other.

"You were poorly sealed into a weakling Genin ninja," Kyuubi-figure mocked, "I was excellently sealed into a mighty Genin ninja. Don't you see the cycle? Your Jinchuuriki is a reflection and embodiment of your weak and sad existence. My Jinchuuriki reflects my might and fearsome existence. That's just the way it is."

The Kyuubi-figure exploded and splashed all over Shukaku, enraging the bijuu.

"KYUUBI!," Shukaku roared menacingly as it thrashed against the cage fiercely trying to break free.

Kyuubi laughed darkly while watching Shukaku's berserk state.

"Damn you Kyuubi," Naruto yelled before turning his attention to Gaara, who was standing were he was while looking at Shukaku.

"Gaara listen to me," Naruto said, "Pay no attention to Kyuubi-teme."

"Your bijuu raises some points that I found agreeable," Gaara spoke with a deadpan tone, "Which is why I always had to prove my existence to the world."

"And what does that entail," Naruto inquired. Gaara didn't answer was the sands on the ground cleared away from Naruto's feet. Looking down into the ground, Naruto saw what looked like a window of some sort. Taking a closer look, Naruto realized that he was looking into Gaara's life as a child and what Naruto was looking at wasn't something he was thrilled about.

Naruto saw how Gaara was trained by his father, Yondaime Kazekage, but raised mainly by his uncle, Yashamaru. Because of the power of Shukaku, the villagers of Sunagakure hated and feared Gaara, seeing him only for the monster sealed within him. For a time, Naruto saw, Yashamaru seemed to be the only person who cared about Gaara. When Gaara would mistakenly harm others due to the subconscious abilities granted to him by Shukaku, Yashamaru would be the only one who understood that Gaara hadn't intended to harm anyone. Gaara's father, however, didn't see Gaara in the same light, and viewed Gaara's repeated attacks upon villagers as a result of a failed experiment that was a threat to the village.

Because of the danger Gaara imposed, his father began sending assassins to kill him, though when all attempts met with failure, the Kazekage asked Yashamaru to kill Gaara. As a result, Yashamaru tried to assassinate Gaara, though Gaara's abilities beaten Yashamaru with no difficulty, saddening Gaara. Although Gaara tried to discharge Yashamaru's attack as an order of the Kazekage, Yashamaru corrected him by saying that he had freely accepted the mission. Having never truly loved Gaara, Yashamaru hoped that killing Gaara would avenge the death of his sister, Gaara's mother, who had named Gaara after the phrase "a self-loving carnage," a symbol of her hate for Gaara. In a last ditch effort to kill Gaara, Naruto saw through the memory window, Yashamaru detonated a number of explosive tags covering his body, asking Gaara to, "Please die." Gaara survived the blast and lost the only person he thought had cared for him.

While Gaara had initially tried to be friendly towards others despite their fear of him, Yashamaru's actions and words changed Gaara. Realizing that nobody loved him, Gaara used his sand to create the kanji for "Love" on his forehead as a symbol of a "demon loving only himself." Naruto saw how Gaara became emotionally withdrawn, all but silent, and consumed with a bitter loathing for everyone but himself. The blonde saw how Gaara learned to find pleasure and eventually a reason to live in annihilating the numerous assassins sent to kill him – and by extension, anyone who threatened his existence.

Gaara's insomnia, forced upon him by the fear that the raccoon demon inside him would eat away at his personality if he were to fall asleep, only furthered his instability and desire to kill. Naruto then saw how Gaara's father came to appreciate Gaara and the uses he could serve before canceling all assassination orders in the hopes that Gaara would become an effective tool.

Looking into the memory window, Naruto watched Gaara's childhood and saw how unfortunate the red haired boy was due to his lack of anyone to call a friend. Gaara was lonely and desired to be liked, loved, and acknowledged as an individual, free of others' prejudices. They, Naruto and Gaara are themselves, not the bijuus they were forced to "contain" — and both were driven into a desperate state. While Naruto consequently use the conception of pranks, mischief and laughter to as a defense against the madness that threatened his well being, Gaara came to the conclusion that he could preserve and confirm his own existence by killing any and all who challenged it, securing an extreme form of existentialism as his key personality trait.

In the absence of others' acknowledgment, Naruto acknowledged, Gaara could compensate by valuing only himself to the exclusion of everyone else. While Naruto had family and friends to acknowledge him, Gaara never had anyone to bond with and didn't understand the concept of fighting for anything other than himself.

The memory mirror vanished from Naruto sight, leaving him alone with Gaara and the two bijuus. What he saw gave him a new understanding of life as a Jinchuuriki faced with inhumane hatred and fear by those who were supposed to be your family, friends and people. It broke Naruto's heart to no end that Gaara, a fellow Jinchuuriki forced to carry the burden of being a container without his consent, was made to suffered everything Kyuubi told him would have happened to him had Yondaime Hokage not been sealed away alongside him.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said lowly as a few tears fall from his eyes, "I'm so sorry."

Gaara looked at Naruto quietly.

"I know I can never truly understand what growing up had to be like for you Gaara," Naruto spoke, "But do understand that I understand the burden of being a container. Like you, I became one without my consent and I didn't learn about this until I was eight years old. Though you and I lived completely different lives however, I want to offer you something that no has ever given you: my friendship."

The Suna nin looked at Naruto skeptically and asked, "You seek friendship with me because of sentimentality?"

"I seek friendship with you because no one ever gave you a true reason live and exist. Believe me Gaara, I know and met someone who experienced a similar case. Like you, she was hated and feared by her family because of a feared bloodline limit she carries and her own father tried to kill her before he died. She became homeless and no one in her village wanted anything to do with her. She was later taken in by a shinobi swordsman who only used her as a weapon and instrument. She consciously knew this but she dismissed it because he was the only person who took her in, sheltered and trained her.

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