You'll embarrass the village.

Strange, isn't it, that he of all people, who had the most reason to hate the Village Hidden in the Sand would defend its honor so readily, stopping a fight which might lead to bloodshed which he practically lived for.

Sabaku no Gaara. The self loving demon of the sand waterfall.

Born a jinchuuriki, the Shukaku sealed into him during gestation, a monster locked into him before he ever had the chance to see the world.

Not many knew of the Jinchuuriki Plan, only the Kazekage, and those directly affected. Granny Chiyo, whose medical skills were needed to seal the monster in. Yashamaru, an ANBU medic nin tasked with the care of his sister. Karura, who lost her life to it.

That was why the Council was startled when the Kazekage showed up at a meeting two weeks later, his youngest son bundled in his arms and announced to be the strongest weapon of Sunagakure.

The premature baby was tiny, and eerily still though it was awake. Pupilless green eyes bore into Councillor Wanabi's own brown eyes, and he felt a shiver run down his back.

Two months later, when the baby blew out all the windows of the nursery it was kept in, showering the room with glass and sand, he was officially revealed to the rest of the Village of the Sand, the experiment deemed a success.

What the Kazekage had to cover up was Yashamaru's tiny cuts, as he had attempted to pinch the baby on one chubby cheek when what would later be known as Gaara's Ultimate Defense reared its head.

The Ultimate Defense stood strong, moving automatically to defend its owner at every single threat, from a simple fall when the child started learning to walk, to explosive kunai thrown by his own beloved uncle, to six assassination attempts ordered by his father.

It stayed loyal to him through the Chunin exams, trying its best even though Rock Lee, and then Uchiha Sasuke bypassed it.

But Uzumaki Naruto ripped through the layers of sand, right down to his bare, beating heart, and taught him that the will to protect brought life.

He wanted to live. He needed to protect.

And out of all the things he could have chosen to protect, he chose his village. Sunagakure. Which had despised and feared him. Which had given him nothing except hatred.

And yet it was the only thing he lived for. Quite literally. No one but the Fourth Kazekage would know that he had brought up the idea of a third child to Karura with Shukaku on his mind.

He built bonds after, his tentative first steps taken with his siblings, then moving on to Baki, his jounin sensei. But the village had been the first choice made, lying on Kankuro's back, bleeding from numerous wounds and cuts, yet his mind strangely clear and calm.

They say that the more you give, the more you love.

Gaara had given up his life, his sanity, his childhood, his happiness to the village even before he was born. He had been taught personally by the Yondaime Kazekage, instilling in him a fierce sense of loyalty towards the village since a young age. And yet, he only seemed to give more and more.

He told Kankuro that he wanted to be Kazekage. It never occurred to him to pursue that position because of power, but rather that it would simply be easier and more efficient for him to protect Sunagakure in that position.

He gave his sweat and blood, joining the troops and teaching at the school. He watched his Ultimate Defense slowly spread out to cover his teammates as well. He smiled when his teammate slapped him on the shoulder at a job well done and the sand did not react. He hesitantly gave a thumbs up to one of his students who had done particularly well with a jutsu, as he had seen Kankuro doing that before, and she looked at him like the sky had suddenly turned brown.

Sunagakure was slowly beoming a real home for him.

He loves Sunagakure, Temari thought proudly as she watched her little brother rise throught the ranks.

He loves Sunagakure, Kankuro realized as Gaara confided in him about his dream of being Kazekage to protect the village.

He loves Sunagakure, Baki smiled as his youngest student was elected Godaime Kazekage.

He loves Sunagakure, Captain Yura reported to Deidara, watching as the man smiled at the easily exploited weakness.

He loves Sunagakure, Sasori laughed as Deidara's bird lugged the Kazekage's motionless body across the desert.

He loves Sunagakure, Grandmother Chiyo thought in her final moments, realizing that under this boy, Sunagakure would never fall if he had any say in it.

He loves Sunagakure, Rasa let tears fall, keeping his gaze on his youngest son as the sand enveloped him, his son who he had feared would destroy the village one day. His worries had been in vain.

He loves Sunagakure, Tenten had to suppress a giggle as the Kazekage's eyes lit up when he talked of his village.

He loves Sunagakure, Shikamaru discovered as both Kages, Ho and Kaze sat down to their meeting.

He loves Sunagakure, Naruto sighed in dismay when the Daimyo sent him an order to begin war with Kaze no Kuni. Namely, Sunagakure.

He loves Sunagakure, the Suna nin lining the walls of their beloved village raised their kunai in response to the Kazekage's signal.

The Kazekage would not let his village fall.

He loved Sunagakure.

The Kazekage of Sunagakure was best known for his Ultimate Defense.

The village itself had done its best to live up to that name too.

Large, earthen walls surrounded the village, with only a small entrance in the front. And several secret tunnels in various parts, but it was not common knowledge. The harsh climate itself, the never ending dunes of sand, the mirages caused by the desert, were enough of a defense that the Wind Country had never once fallen to an enemy before.

But then Uzumaki Naruto, Nonadaime Hokage of the Konoha Village never did like rules.

The relations between the ninja villages were great, but between the large countries, they weren't. The Fire Country had been salivating over the large, though unfertile land of the Wind Country for a long time.

Several contracts with the naive Wind Country's Daimyo later, the Wind Country had decided to demilitarize itself as a gesture of goodwill, and funding towards Sunagakure's expenses were slowly being cut. This situation had Gaara slaving over his desk many nights, trying desperately to redirect nonexistant funds into keeping the village running.

And a stroke of luck for the Fire Country's Daimyo came in the form of the Fourth Shinobi War.

All villages had been weakened, there was no profit to be gained from there, except that Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, the heroes of the War were both from Konoha.

This was going to be all too easy.

He waited until Uzumaki Naruto became the Hokage, to lull the people into a false sense of security before ordering the strike.

The newly elected Hokage had been downright furious when he made that order, but a threat to cut off funding forced the boy silent.

As the Hokage, he was responsible for the welfare of the villages. If they had no money, they would die of starvation in no time. War hero or not, he had to bow under the pressure of money.

When he told Shikamaru about the order, his trusted advisor fell silent. He knew why.

His friend was engaged to Temari of Sunagakure and the wedding was due in five months.

Naruto gave his friend three days. He was gone in two.

Three days to travel to Sunagakure from Konoha. Two more days of peace.

Naruto decided that he could waste one day on drinking.

Defense was Sunagakure's strong suit, so Naruto decided that they would have to lead the other village into the offensive if they were to win the first battle and boost morale. Problem is, it was Konoha starting the war this time and the first attack had to be done on Sunagakure soil.

He settled on sending a team of assassins to assassinate the Kazekage. Surely that would send the message of war loud and clear.

...my father tried to assassinate me six times when I was younger...

But a week passed, and neither hide nor hair was heard of the assassins. Sunagakure remained stoically silent.

Gaara must have seen through my ruse, Naruto thought tiredly, finally giving out orders to assemble an army.

One-sixth of the army fell to the deadly stings of desert scorpions, sun strokes and other nasty surprises the desert had prepared during the first week of the march.

Yes, the first week.

They had gotten lost. The three day journey turned into a two week journey, and by the time they reached Sunagakure's imposing walls and set up camp, only two thirds were left.

Uchiha Sasuke had shown up at the start of the second week, but refused to have any hand in this war.

"Gaara offered me a second chance. Unlike you, I remember those who help."

Naruto felt like sitting down and bawling like a young child, but as Hokage, he couldn't.

Marching into battle against one of his closest friends. How could anyone think he really wanted that?

Only a few knew it had been the Daimyo's orders. Wanting to stain his name as little as possible, the Daimyo had ordered word spread that this attack was in retaliation of Sunagakure's attack on Konoha so many years ago, claiming that new evidence had been unearthed to prove that Sunagakure had played an active and willing part in Orochimaru's plan.

Tired from a long day's march, Naruto decided to delay the inevitable a little longer and have them set up camp and fortifications, beginning the siege tomorrow.

Then Gaara floated out on a cloud of sand to meet him.

The red-head was dressed in the white and blue Kazekage robes, complete with the headpiece. His friend's eyes were serene, and he wasn't even carrying his gourd with him.

Hinata was by his side in a flash, palms raised and Byakugan activated.

"I just want to talk to him for a while, before the war starts." Gaara said tiredly. Hinata's eyes softened, and she stepped back. She knew Gaara from his visits to Konoha, having to interact with him often as the future head of the Hyuga clan, and had appreciated his wedding gift of a small cactus, which was flourishing on their window.

"War." Naruto laughed bitterly, then turned hysterical. "I'm leading my people into war. Against you."

"Your Daimyo, correct?" Gaara murmured.

Naruto didn't ask how he knew. As fellow Kages, they both understood the headaches of dealing with their respective Daimyos.

"I can't be here long, Naruto. Temari will yell at me if she finds out I came over. But I just want to tell you that tomorrow-I will not hold back. And neither should you."

"Gaara-"

"Listen. We both love our villages. If we don't fight at full strength, we will regret it for the rest of our lives. I don't want to make a choice between my friend and my village. I will fight until I go down, and there's that. If you're stronger, so be it. If I'm stronger, so be it."

"So we should just spar with our villages on the line, then." Naruto murmured.

"A spar to the death."

Naruto was confident that in terms of raw power, he was stronger than Gaara. He had Kyuubi, he had Sage Mode, he had the Toad Summonings, but with the combined power of Gaara's leadership and Shikamaru's intellect, plus the home turf advantage, he couldn't be sure if he could win.

He would just have to fight at full strength, and see.

The sun rose the next day to the sound of arrows raining down upon Konoha forces. The shinobi roused and started to launch catapults at Suna's walls, but sand shielded the walls from all of the hits. Shinobi had to pass through the small opening between the walls to fight one on one, and were quickly picked off by the Puppeteer Corps, led by Kankuro, hanging from the walls on chakra strings and operating their puppets with their free hands.

Naruto gauged the walls, trying to determine if they could be climbed with chakra, but then quickly received his answer as Kakashi plummeted from the wall, courtesy of Temari, brandishing her fan.

Blood soaked the desert sands.

Sasuke only swooped in every now and then, blocking a blow for Sakura, catching Kakashi from his fall, but never lashing out. The Suna shinobi did not target him either, once his disinterest in the battle was made clear.

The sun set on the desert, and yet the fighting did not stop. Naruto killed Baki, only to turn and watch Rock Lee get smashed on a rock by Shira. He went after the taijutsu-user, to come across Shino and Kiba's bodies, Akamaru guarding them fiercely. He did not pause to linger, but instead ran on, to find Shira dangling from Might Guy's hands, neck broken. Tenten was moaning by the side, a stomach wound that would make it hard pressed for her to survive the night.

The second day saw Hinata running to him, Byakugan deactivated and dead tired, but obviously she had important news-

A blade pierced her through the back, and she fell, gasping blood, and Naruto had killed the young, brown haired Suna nin before he came back to his senses.

Her name was Matsuri, and she never liked weapons-

Sakura arrived twenty minutes later, eighteen minutes too late, and told Naruto that they had discovered a series of underground passages into Sunagakure with Hinata's Byakugan. But without the Byakugan, they had no chance of navigating them.

Enough death. Enough carnage.

"I will ask Hyuga Hiashi to guide me. I will go alone tomorrow at sunrise."

He would let Kyuubi free once the Hyuga was safely out of the way, and then destroy Sunagakure from within. His large scale techniques could also be used then.

To put an end to this war.

While still mourning his daughter, Hyuga Hiashi understood that they were still at war and had agreed. The plan went off without a hitch, at least until familiar, blazing red met them along with the sunlight.

"I love Sunagakure." The Fifth Kazekage said in a monotone, sand swirling around him as he raised his hand. "And not even you, Uzumaki Naruto, will destroy it while I'm alive."

Naruto prepared to dodge the coming Sand Coffin, but instead it was Hyuga Hiashi that got compressed into nothingness.

"Just between the two of us."

Gaara and his sand rose into the air, inviting Naruto into an open air battle, which the Hokage accepted. No need for needless casualties.

"Your student killed Hinata." Naruto said. "And then I killed her."

"I know."

"I killed your teacher."

"I know."

"I killed dozens of your Suna nin within forty eight hours, maybe even hundreds. Aren't you mad?"

A pause. Then,

"This is war, Uzumaki Naruto."

A drop of salty water entered the sand soaked in red.

It was a terrible fight.

Fights between Kages were always spectacular, but this was just plain heartbreaking.

The Nonadaime Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, jinchuuriki host of Kyuubi, Savior of the Ninja World, was releasing a barrage of relentless attacks on the sand shield.

The Godaime Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara, former jinchuuriki host of Ichibi, known as the Prince of the Desert, was blocking Naruto's attacks while silently calling upon sand to rise into the sky, above the battling duo.

"Sand Hail!"

"Wind Style: Rasengan!"

The wind scattered the sand, but Gaara knew Naruto's moves like the back of his hand, and had prepared a tightly compressed ball of sand in Naruto's blind spot, which wavered in the wind but did not stop its progress.

"Sand Bullet!"

Naruto turned, eyes widening, but dodged out of the way in time. However, he did not anticipate the second Sand Bullet, cleverly concealed behind the first.

That was one of Sasuke's techniques.

And Naruto had learned a long time ago how to respond to that.

True, both his hands were still out of the way, unable to cancel the previous movement in time to block the second as well. But he had two other limbs.

He brought his left foot up and kicked the bullet out of the way, but sent himself off balance in the process. Sand started to crawl up his body, taking advantage of the momentary lapse.

"Sage Mode!"

The Nine Tails Cloak of pure chakra flared out over his body, the familiar marks adorning it. The sudden intense concentration of chakra dispelled the sand, and he looked up at Gaara, hidden in his ball of sand, the Third Eye hovering next to it.

There was only one thing he could do against the Ultimate Defense.

"Tailed Beast Bomb!"

As the ball of chakra enlarged in his hands, Naruto watched in slight bewilderment as the Third Eye was dispelled and the Ultimate Shield retreated in record speed, to reveal Gaara and his expression of pure panic. Who in their right mind would take down their shield when seeing their enemy form a powerful weapon...?

As he took off running in Gaara's direction, he watched his friend's eyes widen in slight comprehension, and he was bringing the shield back up again-

Gaara brought up a large shield to protect Sunagakure from Deidara's specialty, but in the process fell into his trap-

It hurt, that Gaara thought he would deal such a petty and cruel blow, but then again, after declaring war on one of his best friends, it seemed pretty hard for him to go any lower.

It hurt even more when the Tailed Beast Bomb smashed through the hastily erected sand defense like it was nothing and blew the Kazekage clear out of the sky.

The recoil of the explosion, at such close proximity, sent Naruto flying as well. Naruto would have chosen to set off the Tailed Beast Bomb at a greater distance had he not been unsure if the bomb would be able to break through Gaara's Ultimate Defense.

They both flew away from each other, and landed with twin thumps on the dry desert ground.

Bleeding, Naruto stumbled to his feet, and tiredly formed a set of hand signs. The shifting dunes made it hard for him to locate Gaara, so he sent out a couple of clones to search before turning back towards the battleground between the Suna and Konoha nin.

He heard the unnatural hissing of sand too late, and turned to be met with Shukaku's Spear in his chest.

Pale and bleeding from his right temple, with his left leg dragging on the sand behind him and his left arm completely charred and useless, Gaara still managed to hold his regal Kage pose.

"I still have my Sand Armour. Your Bomb decimated that, but I'm still alive." He met Naruto's eyes. "I still have my Sand Teleportation. This is the desert. I can be anywhere. I am Gaara of the Sand Waterfall. Do not tell me you have forgotten."

Naruto smiled. "I did forget all that, but..."

He poofed out of existence, allowing the sand spear to fall to the ground and lose its form.

"...did you honestly think that I wouldn't go to search for you myself?"

Gaara swayed on the spot and collapsed, the sand sluggishly rushing to cushion his fall.

The other shadow clones poofed out of existence as Naruto quickly backtracked, sensing his clone's demise. Gaara.

Tired aquamarine eyes focused on the blurry silhouette approaching him, and raised a hand in his direction.

"Sand...Coffin..."

The desert heeded it's master's last order, and rose to engulf the Hokage.

Sunagakure's Ultimate Defense was as unbreachable as ever.

Uchiha Sasuke strode down the hospital corridor to see his friend, doing his best to block out the anguished wails coming from the morgue downstairs.

Another identified body.

One month since the war between Konohagakure and Sunagakure, and they were still digging for bodies that the desert had claimed by Sunagakure's walls, which were now flying black banners to honor it's Kazekage.

He had been loitering around the border of the Country of Lightning when he first heard of Naruto's latest idiotic move. The villagers still tell stories of the night the Raikage's furious roar was heard throughout the land and the entire building was shaken instead of the customary window breaking.

What will that little upstart do after this? Come after Lightning, Water and Earth when Wind falls?!

They called an emergency Kage meeting. Only the Raikage, Tsuchikage and Mitsukage were able to come, the Hokage being lost in the desert and the Kazekage being needed in his village.

The Raikage was in favor of the three combining forces to attack Fire when it was depleted after the battle with Wind. The Mitsukage, still settling the internal conflicts of her village, wanted to try a diplomatic talk first instead. The Tsuchikage, having been favorably disposed towards the young Kazekage since the Fourth Shinobi World War, wanted them to go in aid of Wind.

The old man won out at last, after all, reasoning that the bonds they had worked so hard to build during the entire fiasco with the Tsukiyomi should not be broken down that easily.

However, when they arrived, Sunagakure was still standing tall and holding its own quite well.

Hatake Kakashi, who had assumed temporary command of their troops since their Hokage had disappeared during his fight with the Kazekage, informed them that the sandstorm had already lasted for five days, and didn't look like it would be letting up any time soon.

The Raikage had then proceeded to yell at the white haired jounin for fifteen full minutes, only stopping to breathe.

"It was on the Daimyo's orders." He said tiredly. "No one wanteTd any of this."

"You've lost your Hokage. You've lost half of your troops. Isn't this a good time to retreat? Maybe you can offer Suna some compensation. Though not too much, it might make it hard for your village to start any wars for the following, I don't know, ten years. Your Daimyo could die of natural causes then." The Tsuchikage offered cryptically.

Kakashi took the hint. "Well, that'd be too bad for him then."

"Clever boy." The Mitsukage grinned wolfishly.

It took all three of the Kages to calm the raging sandstorm. The Mitsukage used Water Style to soak the grain particles, the Tsuchikage used Earth Style to weigh down every last grain of sand he came in contact with, and the Raikage called down a rainstorm with his Lightning Style to wet the sand.

The sand still stirred feebly at their feet, making it apparent that this was no ordinary sandstorm.

One would think of the Kazekage's prowess with sand style jutsus.

The desert was quiet, and uncharacteristicly moist by then. Suna nin patrolling the walls eyed the three Kage additions suspiciously, sending a scout off to report, but made no move.

While the Mitsukage attempted to smooth things out with Temari, ice shooting from her eyes and Shikamaru following behind with lowered eyes, Ino let out a scream from behind.

She sensed a faint chakra underground.

Temari had her fan out instantly, making the Konoha nin tense up briefly before realizing that she was using it to move the sand.

Everyone knew who she was hoping to find.

But when with the help of Kakashi's Chidori, a blond was unearthed with a faint heartbeat and barely present breathing, Temari curtly finished off negotiations with the Mitsukage and turned on her heel, going back to Sunagakure.

The village he loved so.

Sunagakure and Konohagakure signed the peace treaty, and immediately after that, the work of recovering bodies was begun. Suna had already been digging, and returned all the bodies of the Konoha nin recovered to their home village.

The black banners billowed solemnly in the wind as they dug.

The treaty had been signed by a council representative on Suna's side, unlike Konoha, which had elected a temporary Hokage stand in, Hatake Kakashi as their current leader was indisposed.

He loves Sunagakure, they said. He will return.

Uzumaki Naruto woke up after a two month coma. By then, the last of the bodies had been recovered and the teams of Konoha nin sent to carry out the digging had returned, their reports being the first piece of paperwork he was allowed access to.

Sunagakure, however, was still digging.

He loved Sunagakure, they said. He would want to come home.

People of the desert do not cry. It is a waste of precious water.

Uzumaki Naruto, disguised as a foreign traveler, turned his head as the young Suna nin wept.

Three years and ten months later, the Daimyo gave Konoha a mission to act as his personal bodyguards.

The Nonadaime Hokage decided to accept this mission himself.

He loved Sunagakure, he thought angrily as he watched the red run into the carpet.

Gaara's body was never found.

Sunagakure remained covered in black.

The empty seat of Kazekage was bound to draw unwanted attention.

Five years and three months, the Hidden Village of Rice decided that it would make a grab for a position as one of the five Great Nations. And the currently headless Sunagakure seemed like a lamb waiting to be slain.

Temari rushed to the balcony with Shikamaru to survey the situation, and Kankuro quickly dispatched of the few spies that were planted within their ranks.

Then the first flaming boulder was launched at their walls, and Temari was readying her fan to blow it off course, when a wall of sand rose out of nowhere and intercepted the boulder, which shattered harmlessly against it.

Sand jutsu.

Who-?

Sand rose out of various spots in the village to intercept hidden arrows, more boulders, and the battering rams.

The familiar hissing of sand rising to protect, to save, made Temari want to fall to her knees and cry.

"Gaara..."

Sunagakure's black banners were gone, and then they were announcing the succession of the next Kazekage, which was falling to Temari, and Shikamaru would be her advisor and personal bodyguard, along with Kankuro. They had stopped their fruitless hunt for the Godaime Kazekage's body.

The desert had claimed back her child.

And as a final gift, he had left Sunagakure his Ultimate Defense.

They tell stories of him, not of Gaara, jinchuuriki of Shukaku, but Gaara, Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure, the strongest one of all.

And they always end their stories with this.

He loves Sunagakure.