A bond thicker than blood

righto here is another chapter for you, this chapter i think
is a Gaara and Naruto chapter (of course in a non sexual way, so dont worry =))

LadyRonin: glad you liked it. yeah Sasuke do seem know more about the Yakuza than Naruto originally though, but up untill now it had been more of Naruto's problems and position in the "family" and so on, now Sasuke will be joining in, if one can put it like that seeing that Itachi is reappearing in front of Sasuke. Sasuke have an avenger complex sort of, i think chapter 24 i just wrote will help explain that, or at least i hope. Orochimaru does have a lot of enemies doesnt he,haha. well not sure how Sasuke will be dealing with Orochimary just yet seeing as Orochimaru didnt physically kill his parents but i am pretty sure the though of killing him wont be far off as Sasuke begins to learn about Naruto's past.

the orphanage was just one that was in the area, and Naruot's father was just the doctor taking care of children at the orphanage. well Naruto is just beginning to learn about the people and the routine about the group, but seeing that he only claimed the small area around the antique shop that Momochi was left in charge of by Naruto's father. he still lack a lot of knowledge.

SadisticUchiha: hehe thank you.

well then here is the chapter, enjoy.

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Chapter 23

Naruto had fallen asleep waiting for Momochi to come back to ask him the 20 names, and when he woke up he found himself on the sofa and it was light outside. Naruto stretched himself and got up from the sofa, his stomach was making weird noises telling him it needed to be filled with something. Better find some food.

Naruto emerged from the back room of the shop only to find the shop empty, weird he scratched his head, usually one of them is always in the shop. He took a step closer into the shop, realising he was being more careful than usual.
He was not to sure wither he liked this place completely empty, remembering that his meeting with his uncle for the first time in 4 year had been by the front door in the darkness. Suddenly the door opened and an unfamiliar shadow appeared, the blond boy backed up trying to hide behind some old furniture hoping that the person had not seen him yet.

“Oh you’re awake” Gaara said as he saw Naruto duck down behind some furniture, he knew he had scared the blond boy. Better take it easy not to scare him any more than I already have. Gaara lifted up the bag in order to show Naruto “I bought breakfast, thought you’d be hungry when you woke up” the red haired boy walked over to counter and put the bag down, all the while being watched by Naruto. He was not sure if he should trust him or not seeing as he had never seen him before, but the red haired boy did not set off too many warning bells ringing in Naruto.

“Who are you?” the blond boy reappeared from behind the furniture and walked slowly towards the other boy, who was laying out some Onigiri on the counter along with two bottles of water. He looked familiar but Naruto was not sure where he had seen him before.

“You don’t remember?” Gaara looked at him, a bit disappointed but did not show it, he never expected Naruto to remember the orphanage but they had met some months ago and he did not think he was that forgettable. “We met that time you bumped in to Neji in the …” Naruto’s face light up, he remembered now.

“Ah you’re the red haired guy that stood next to Neji” he though for a couple of seconds, it felt a wee bit embarrassing not remembering his name “G … Gaara?” Naruto hoped it was the right name.

The red haired guy smiled at him, “see you do remember” Gaara gave Naruto the bottle of water, which the blond boy accepted before he sat down on top of the counter. As they ate they talked about their studies, Gaara was taking a major in English and Japanese literature. Naruto had been fascinated by it and asked if Gaara could say something in English, Gaara had laughed and asked what he wanted to hear.

Even though they had only met once before they talked for hours as they had been best friends for year, “you need to teach me some English Gaara” the blond boy said after their laughing fit over how bad Naruto’s pronunciation was.

“Sure” the red haired boy nodded as he took another sip from his water.

Naruto was curious of how Gaara was so familiar with the place; it would take a lot of trust from Momochi or Haku to let someone be alone in the shop, he hoped in the back of his head that they had not let Gaara stay here because they knew he would be sleeping here.

“Can I ask you something?” the blond boy said before taking another bite of the Onigiri in his hand.

“Sure, ask away.”

“How do you know Momochi and Haku?” Naruto decided not to ask about the Sumiyoshi-kai just incase he was just a friend and nothing more.

Gaara only smiled at the question, he knew it would be asked sooner or later. He was just not sure wither he should tell him the whole story or not.

“We go back along way, he was my mentor along side your dad” he took up his sword which was resting against the wall.

Naruto almost dropped the Onigiri to the floor “You knew my father?” he was surprised seeing as Gaara was only a year older than him “how?” suddenly there were so many questions he wanted to ask.

“Yeah I knew your father, just like Haku I was brought in to the Sumiyoshi-kai inner family when I was very young. My adoptive father was one of your father’s closest friends and so I was trained just like him to become a swords man.” He refrained from saying anything about the orphanage and that it was all due to Naruto’s constantly talking about him to his father that lead him to adopt Gaara.

“But I can’t remember seeing you around the main house” Naruto said with his eyes fixed on the red haired boy

“No my training required a lot of concentration, so I was taken to a small village just outside Tokyo where I went to school and trained with my father and Momochi and your father. Every month I would have 2 weeks sparring with Momochi and your father” Naruto remembered that Momochi always went on a trip for a week every months, and Naruto’s father was always traveling back and forth from Tokyo and other places when his presence was needed.

“Besides who doesn’t know of the double edge sword” Gaara said and smiled biting in to the last piece of Onigiri. The double edge sword was Haku and Momochi’s name in the group, because when they were fighting they acted like one sword that had two sharp edges.

“True, but why are you here?” he couldn’t remember seeing Gaara’s name on the list he was reading through last night and Momochi had clearly said that it was the names of the people working for him and no one else.

“Thought you would ask, my hunch told me that Momochi and Haku haven’t told you yet.” He looked at the blond boy who stared back at him with a puzzled look.

“Told me what?”

“I am your bodyguard, Kumicho*” Naruto spat out the water he’d just drank when he heard Gaara call him Kumicho, that was the official title to the godfather of the group but nobody had ever called Orochimaru that since he had taken over, much to Orochimaru’s annoyance.

“That can’t be good for the old furniture” the red haired boy said looking at the small table that had gotten the most of the water over it.


After Naruto was finished coughing, he looked at Gaara, “what did you just call me?” knowing perfectly well what Gaara had said, he just could not believe he had heard it.

“Kumicho, you mean?” Gaara lifted an eye brow, at Narutos frozen expression of shock “That’s what you are; it would be a disgrace to call you anything else unless told so.” Gaara was a little amused watching the blond boy looking more and more confused.

“Please don’t call me that, I am not the Kumicho” Naruto stared down into the bottle of water in his hand.

“As you wish, but please don’t brush aside your title so easily. Your father would be very disappointed” the red haired boy said

“MY FATHER IS …dead” he squeezed the bottle to calm his anger; it was still a very delicate topic to venture into. Naruto loved his father more than anything but he still was not ready to forgive him just yet for being the person that got his entire family killed. But Naruto could not see the Sumiyoshi-kai inner family fall apart when his father had given so much to protect it.

“Sorry” Gaara knew he had hit the nail on the head “well then Uzumaki-sama please don’t move about without me, even though you don’t want to acknowledge your importance there are people that do and with that comes a higher risk of being a target.” Naruto knew perfectly well what it meant seeing it is what killed is family, the fear of being the person who could get his closest killed gripped his chest and he was unsure wither he was ready to carry that burden. Father, I can’t be like you. I’m not strong enough.

“I want to go home” the blond boy finally said and jumped off the counter

“As you wish” Gaara responded and took his sword and followed his new young master out the door.

Sasuke stood at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the flat he and Naruto now shared, for a whole week he had been longing to see the blond boy and yesterdays little exercise was still playing in his mind, all he wanted now was to plant a kiss on the blond boy’s soft lips. He took a deep breath and proceeded to climb the stairs when he heard a familiar voice calling his name, making him stop dead in his track and sending chills down his spine.

“Long time no see little brother, I was beginning to wonder where you might have run off to?” Itachi stood only 50 meters away from him, grinning from ear to ear.


*Kumicho means group leader.

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hope you guys enjoyed and will hang around for the next chapter.