What's So Great About Sasuke? Come With Me

"Yo, Shikamaru. Fancy running into you."

On the streets of Konoha, Naruto unexpectedly ran into Shikamaru after rounding a corner.

"Coincidences are a hassle too. It means we'll be stared at as freaks all the way to the hospital together."

Shikamaru scratched his head. Just as he had said, the way people looked at him had changed too, but he did not care. Rather than worry about those people, he would rather count the clouds in the sky.

"Don't sweat the details. Where are you going?"

"To see Choji. That guy ate too much barbecue and got himself hospitalized."

Shikamaru sighed and reluctantly lifted the fruit in his hand. The main matches were tomorrow, yet he had to go visit an idiot with another idiot.

"That's very Choji-like."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to see Lee. I've met him a few times because of Neji. That guy likes Sakura, but Sakura probably won't go see him."

"You're really taking it easy. The official matches are tomorrow, and your opponent is Konoha's top rookie."

"Watch it, he was last year's top rookie. This year's top rookie is still up for debate. I definitely won't lose."

"That's why idiots have their good points too. You don't know fear."

Shikamaru scratched his head. He did not think much of Naruto, the Dead Last, and had no idea where his confidence came from. If it were him, he would have forfeited immediately. This was not the kind of opponent one could beat by thinking things through.

"The hospital is especially deserted today."

As they spoke, the two had already arrived at Konoha Hospital. There was not a single person in the reception hall, and the nurse at the counter was nowhere to be seen. Only a sign reading "At Lunch" remained.

"Fewer people is good. It saves us unnecessary trouble."

"Maybe that thing will show up."

Naruto made a face and flailed his arms beside Shikamaru like a ghost.

"Let me make this clear first: I don't believe ghosts exist."

"...Shikamaru, you walk in front."

Perhaps they were saving electricity in broad daylight, but even the lights in the empty corridor were off. The faint groans of patients came from all around, and Naruto consciously moved behind Shikamaru.

"Why are you getting scared by your own words?!"

Rock Lee's Hospital Room

"Lee, don't give up. I believe you can recover."

Sakura placed flowers by Lee's bedside and silently wished for his recovery. Lee slept quietly in the bed, unaware that the girl of his dreams had come to see him.

Some time ago, when Sakura had come to visit Sasuke, she had accidentally seen Lee continuing to train despite his crippled body. Though the doctors said he could no longer recover, Lee still worked hard, refusing to believe that this was the end for him. Sakura had been moved by his spirit. Whenever she had time, she came to see him and left a flower for him. After all, he was still the first boy to confess to her, even if he was nowhere near as handsome as Sasuke.

Since Lee was asleep, Sakura did not stay long and soon left. After she was gone, Gaara, who had been perched on the ceiling the entire time, lightly dropped to the floor. He looked at Lee on the bed, seemingly lost in thought. Finally, after a while, the stopper on the gourd behind him fell to the ground. Fine sand slowly surrounded Lee's body; with a light squeeze, Gaara could crush him to pieces.

"Shadow Imitation Technique!"

Gaara realized that he could not move. He turned his gaze toward the doorway, where two people had appeared at some point. One of their shadows was linked to his through the sunlight.

"Gaara, did you come to see Lee too?"

Naruto seemingly still did not understand what the scene meant and asked belatedly.

"Idiot, can't you tell from the situation? This guy definitely isn't a friendly visitor."

Shikamaru was already regretting it. He should not have come to see Lee with Naruto just because it was on the way. Had he known, he would have stayed home and slept the day away. A monster like Gaara was not someone the two of them could afford to provoke.

"Get out, or I'll kill you along with him."

Gaara gave them a flat glance, too lazy to say anything more.

"You already won the match. Do you have some personal grudge against him?"

"I said that no one who fights me survives. He is no exception."

"You're unbelievably self-centered. But don't underestimate us—we still had a trump card we didn't use in the preliminaries. You're no match for us."

Shikamaru's heart ached at having to reason with a monster. He could only try to scare him for now and put on a bluff.

"Huh? How did you know?"

Gaara had not been frightened, but Naruto was startled instead. He had no idea when his Rasengan had been exposed.

"You really do have one? I was just bluffing to fool him!"

"Gaara, I don't know what you're planning, but even if it costs me my life, I'll stop you from hurting Lee!"

"Why? You're clearly the same as me, so why can you so easily stand in front of others!"

"Because we're friends!"

"Friends? Don't make me laugh. We could never possess such feelings, nor could we ever receive genuine affection. Everyone is nothing more than flesh held together by hatred and killing intent."

"You really deserve a beating. What gives you the right to decide that!"

"We are monsters born to fight. I was born using my mother's life as nourishment, and my father, the one called the Kazekage, personally sealed Sand Shukaku inside me. You're the same, aren't you? I can tell from the way the people in this village look at you. We are the same kind."

"This kind of thing... I..."

Naruto recalled a terrible part of his past—the memories from before he met the Nine-Tails and Minato. Though he desperately wanted to forget them, he never could, and his heart began to waver.

"Don't overthink it. The only reason you haven't been killed yet is because your personality is still relatively intact. You haven't developed mental problems like I did. Once you do, the people in your village will be just as eager to kill you as they were with my father."

"Your father tried to assassinate you?"

Shikamaru stared at Gaara in shock. Having grown up in peaceful Konoha, where he bickered and played with his father every day, he had never heard of something as horrific as a father and son trying to kill each other.

"That's right. Ever since I developed mental problems, they feared I would lose control. But it was already too late. I kept killing the assassins my father sent, absorbing their flesh and blood to grow stronger, until I finally became the strongest ninja in Sand Village. The meaning of my existence is to keep killing—to kill everything!"

"Naruto, you should be with me. Don't you want to kill all those people who discriminated against you and ignored you?"

"Maybe you're right. When I was little, I also wondered who I was and why I was alive. I even thought about ending my own life! But that wasn't the right answer. We may be more unfortunate than others, but the happiness we gain after overcoming that misfortune is multiplied. I have friends now, and someone I like. That's the fundamental difference between you and me!"

Naruto took a breath. Unlike him, Gaara had always been alone and had surrendered to that misfortune. But through his own efforts, Naruto had found happiness. Even if the whole world hated him, Hinata would still stand by his side.

"I used to have friends too, but they betrayed me. You'll be the same. They're only staying by your side for some purpose. Sooner or later, you'll taste betrayal too. People like us will never find happiness in the end."

The more Gaara spoke, the more hatred filled his voice. The sand slid off Lee's body and lunged toward Naruto.

"You refuse to see reason. I'll beat some sense into you! Now—"

Naruto fearlessly raised his fist and swung at Gaara, only for a green figure to block him.

"That's enough. If you want to fight, wait until the official match and fight to your hearts' content. This is a hospital room."

Konoha's Blue Beast, Might Guy, blocked Naruto with one hand and scattered Gaara's sand with the other, then looked at Gaara with a warning in his eyes.

"Naruto, I'll prove that I'm right through killing."

Knowing he was no match for Guy, Gaara reluctantly withdrew his sand. He left after whispering a threat into Naruto's ear.

"Naruto, is something wrong?"

Hinata looked in surprise at Naruto, who had suddenly jumped in from outside the wall. This seemed to have become his signature entrance; aside from him, no one else dared climb over the Hyuga Clan's walls. Before the startled Hinata could react, Naruto pulled her into his arms, leaving her at a loss.

"Huh? Um... are you too nervous about the match?"

"Hinata, listen to me..."

Naruto told her about what had happened to Gaara. His voice trembled, and Hinata calmed down somewhat, quietly listening until he finished.

"Naruto-kun would never do something like that, because you're a kind person deep down. Even after being treated that way, you never hated the people in the village, did you?"

As Naruto's beloved, Hinata knew without him saying it that he feared becoming like Gaara. She gently leaned against his shoulder and patted his back encouragingly.

"Of course. Maybe the me from before I was four would have agreed with Gaara, but not now!"

Unexpectedly, Naruto had not come to hug Hinata because he was lost. Maybe that was part of it, but he refused to admit it.

"Then why are you hugging me?"

"I just wanted to remind myself that Hinata has always been by my side."

"Idiot. So what are you going to do?"

"Defeat him, make him realize that what he's doing is wrong, and then become his friend."

"Good luck."

Naruto's idea was foolish and naive, but Hinata believed he could do it. Because Naruto was just like her—once he said something, he would see it through.

PS: Please recommend and bookmark.

PS: Gaara's proposal failed. Rage +1.

PS: Thanks to reader fly2803 for the 500 reward, and reader silverj for the 100 reward.