Nobody really objected Gaara's decision to ally with Otogakure. In fact, many actually supported it. The shock was from the fact that he was leaving Kankuro of all people in charge.

"I'm not that irresponsible!" Temari scoffed and rolled her eyes,

"Yeah sure, remember that time you tried to cook dinner for us?" Kankuro hesitated a bit, trying to come up with a valid excuse.

"Ok, that stove was broken for two years, was I supposed to expect it to work all of a sudden?" Temari barely batted an eye, replying coolly to her brother's protest.

"And what about that time you left a pie in the oven for a week? I still don't understand how that's possible." Kankuro sighed, that actually was his fault.

"An emergency summon from the Yondaime, that's how. And how was I supposed to know that mission would take a week?" Gaara resisted the urge to smack his forehead.

"Kankuro, when you read the mission details scroll, in the bottom right corner, there's a little number, that's the estimated time-"

"Yeah yeah I know that now Kazekage-sama. I'm not some idiot." Temari laughed.

"Oh, that's debatable."

Only Gaara noticed Team 7 quietly trying to exit. "We're not done here, you know." The four of them froze, and slowly re-entered the room.

"Oh! Right! You need to figure out the Oto stuff!" Kankuro exclaimed, earning a smack on the back of the head from Temari. Gaara ignored the two bickering Sand nins behind him and looked to Team 7 with a calm expression.

"There are two ways we can get to Otogakure. We can take the long way, avoiding Konoha but going through Iwagakure, Kusagakure, and Takigakure. Or we can take the shorter way, passing the Akatsuki hideout and traveling through the Land of Fire."

"The short way," Sasuke said with no hesitation, and Kakashi nodded in agreement.

"It's riskier but the sooner we get to Otogakure, the better." Naruto snickered.

"And wouldn't it be funny to see Konoha having some....explosive issues dattebayo?" Sakura smacked her forehead.

"No, it wouldn't be. Imagine the legal issues, Naruto." Said blond shrugged.

"There's no issue if there's no culprit 'ttebayo!" Sakura looked to Sasuke and Kakashi for help, but they seemed to agree with Naruto.

"Oh come on, you're actually gonna let him bomb Konoha? Again?" Sasuke shrugged.

"He doesn't really mean any harm. He'll probably just blow up the wall again or something." Before Sakura could reply, Kakashi cut her off.

"So it's settled! We're going the short way!" Gaara and Sakura took care of more logistics that Naruto didn't bother to listen to, and then the four of them were on their merry way back to their house.

After two years, it was still standing tall. And it was also fairly clean save for the excessive amount of dust.

"Man! It's been a while dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, stretching his arms above his head before coughing from the amount of dust he inhaled

"Hn," Sasuke hummed in agreement ignoring Naruto's wheezing in the background. The four of them then parted ways, each going to their own bedrooms. Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi fell asleep relatively quickly. But Naruto was having a bit of trouble.

He freshened up and slipped under the covers. Closing his eyes with a content sigh. And that was when the voice decided to make its appearance.

"Naruto... Do you remember?" Naruto groaned, not this again!

"Oh, it's you. What do you want now 'ttebayo?" The voice ignored his question and continued.

"Just like how the Kyuubi shares this body with you..." This stupid voice was talking in riddles again, and it was getting really freaky.

"What are you on about?"

"I do too." Naruto froze, this creepy voice was coming from inside him? That's just weird, and kind of scary. But not as scary as the searing pain that suddenly erupted from the seal on his stomach. And even though it wasn't the worst pain he had ever experienced, it still made him yelp a bit.

The black markings seemed to burn deeper into his flesh as bright orange tendrils of energy emerged from his chest.

"Kurama! What's happening dattebayo!"

"I don't know! This is really weird! It's my chakra but I have no control over it!"

The orange energy swirled around Naruto for a bit before collecting into a blob a few feet away from him. But he noticed that the orange blob was slowly taking on a human-like shape. A few moments later, Naruto could make out vague facial features, and shoulder-length spiky hair.

"Wait a minute..." Naruto continued to watch the orange energy with a scrutinizing gaze. It seemed familiar in a way, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

As the figure became more defined, Naruto realized why it seemed so familiar. He sucked in a breath with wide eyes as the figure gave him a warm smile.

"Tou-san."

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;D