Konoha was buzzing. More people were pouring into the village every day, drawn by the upcoming Chunin Exams. On the surface, it was all prosperity and peace, but just beneath, something ugly was brewing.
The tension had even reached Konoha Hospital.
Rock Lee, still recovering from his brutal match, lay unconscious in his hospital bed. Tsunade had saved his life, but his body needed time to heal. With the other genin focused on training for the final round, Lee was mostly left alone. Security was lax.
Too lax.
A small figure slipped through the quiet halls, a large gourd strapped to his back. He moved like a shadow, making his way to Lee's room.
It was Gaara.
Lee was the one who had pushed him, humiliated him, during their fight. Even though Lee was the one who ended up with a broken leg and a wrecked body, Gaara couldn't let it go. He wanted to kill him.
This kid from the Sand Village was a walking nightmare. If he hated you, if he even disliked you, he'd try to kill you without a second thought. He'd already murdered several other genin during the second exam. Back in the arena, Might Guy had stopped him from finishing Lee off.
Now, there was no one here to stop him.
Gaara's face twisted as he stared down at the sleeping Lee. A thick, murderous aura poured off him.
"Die," he whispered.
He slowly raised his hand. Sand swirled up from his gourd, creeping toward Lee's bed, ready to crush him in an instant. This was what made Gaara feel alive. Killing was his purpose.
Just as the sand was about to strike, a calm voice cut through the silence.
"This is a place for healing."
"Who's there?!" Gaara whipped around, his body rigid.
He hadn't sensed anyone. Not a single sound. Even the sand that had protected him his entire life hadn't reacted. How was that possible? Someone had gotten past his ultimate defense without him even noticing.
Gaara instantly dodged to the side, sending a wave of sand crashing toward the figure in the corner of the room.
Whap!
The sand was swatted away like it was nothing.
Enraged, Gaara tried again, his bloodshot eyes glaring pure hatred.
"Sand manipulation, huh?" the man said, a strange, nostalgic tone in his voice.
He calmly held out his hand, and a small orb of water appeared at his fingertips.
With a flick of his wrist, the water shot out, dancing through the air like a tiny dragon. It weaved through Gaara's attack, soaking every grain of sand. The weight suddenly became immense. Gaara gritted his teeth, struggling to control it, but it was useless.
With another casual wave of his hand, the man scattered the now-heavy sand across the floor.
This Konoha ninja had completely neutralized his power.
Just then, the door creaked open. "Lee, I came to see you—" Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening at the scene. "Gaara! What the hell are you doing?!"
"Gaara?" the man who saved Lee repeated, a flicker of surprise in his voice.
"That's Lee's opponent!" Naruto yelled, rushing to stand in front of Lee's bed like a shield. "Emiya, that's the guy who hurt him so bad!"
"I'm going to kill him," Gaara hissed, the muscles in his face twitching with rage.
"Not happening!" Naruto shot back, standing his ground.
He knew he could probably hold Gaara off, but with Emiya Shirou here, Lee was completely safe.
After all, this was the man who had defeated Jiraiya with one hand. The more Naruto trained with his pervy-sage teacher, the more he realized just how strong Shirou really was.
There was no way Gaara stood a chance.
Gaara glared from Naruto to Shirou, his fists clenched. He knew it was over. He couldn't kill Lee with them here.
But he wasn't giving up.
"Wait," Shirou said as Gaara turned to leave. He sounded like he'd just remembered something. "Are you Karura's son?"
Gaara froze, his entire body trembling with rage. No one ever dared to speak his mother's name. The woman who had hated him, who had died giving birth to him.
"You... knew her?" Gaara forced the words out through clenched teeth.
"I saw her soul in the Pure Land," Shirou said, rubbing his forehead as if trying to recall a distant memory. "And her brother, Yashamaru. He had a lot more to work through. His soul was still stuck between life and death."
Shirou had seen so many souls, freed so many lingering spirits, that the memories often blurred together. Sometimes, a name was all it took to bring one back into focus.
But Gaara wasn't buying it. The red-haired boy snorted. For a second, he'd actually wanted to hear about his mother and uncle.
But "the Pure Land"?
What kind of crap was that? He felt like an idiot for even listening.
Wasting his time.
Gaara stormed out of the room.
"That guy..." Naruto muttered, watching him go with a mix of anger and concern.
Shirou watched him leave, his expression unreadable.
"By the way," Naruto asked quietly, "whose names were you talking about? He looked even more pissed off."
"Karura was his mother," Shirou explained calmly. "Yashamaru was his uncle. The day Gaara was born, his mother died, but she left him with a final gift. The sand that always protects him? That's her lingering will."
Shirou paused, his brow furrowing. "But his father..."
He shook his head. Even after a thousand years of hearing twisted stories, this one was hard to stomach.
"What about his father?" Naruto asked, leaning in. Now that he knew his own dad, he was curious about other people's.
"His father, the Fourth Kazekage, sealed the One-Tail Shukaku inside him to turn him into a weapon," Shirou said, his voice low.
He told Naruto everything—how Gaara's uncle, the only person who ever showed him love, was ordered to assassinate him, and how the truth of his mother's love had been twisted into a lie to break him completely.
"How... how could anyone do that?" Naruto whispered, clutching his head.
He'd always thought his life as the Nine-Tails jinchuriki was miserable. He'd even bitched about his own dad, the Fourth Hokage.
But this... Gaara's life was a thousand times worse.
To have the one person you love try to kill you... Naruto couldn't even imagine the pain.
No wonder Gaara was so full of hate. The world had given him every reason to be.
"I have to tell him," Naruto said, his mind made up. He started to run after Gaara. "He needs to know the truth!"
"And how are you going to explain it?" Shirou asked, placing a hand on Naruto's head. "Who's going to believe someone who claims to have messages from the dead?"
"I believe you!" Naruto shot back, grabbing Shirou's wrist. "I'll always believe you, Emiya!"
He trusted his friend, no matter how crazy it sounded.
A thought suddenly struck him. "Hey... did you ever see my mom?"
"Sooner or later, you'll see her yourself," Shirou said, ruffling Naruto's hair with a sincere look. "If you believe me."
"Of course I believe you!" Naruto clenched his fist, his resolve hardening. "Everything you say is true! I'm going back to training. I'm going to beat that guy in the finals, and then I'm going to tell him everything!"
"Then I'll leave it to you," Shirou said, a small smile on his face as he entrusted the impossible task to the knucklehead ninja.