Adopting a Little Brother with a Gourd

"I'm Gaara of the Sand!"

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha!"

This is getting interesting. An opponent this strong! Sasuke Uchiha thought.

"Hello, everyone!"

Uchiha Yoru appeared in front of Gaara.

"What do you want? We're allowed into Konoha during the Chunin Exams!"

Temari spoke with her hand ready to grab her Three-Star Fan at any moment.

Uchiha Yoru didn't look much older than them, but his presence already matched their teacher's, if not surpassed it.

"Nothing. I just came to see Gaara!"

Uchiha Yoru patted Gaara's little head. He'd grown used to patting Sasuke's, and Gaara's felt pretty nice too!

Uchiha Yoru even rubbed it a few times.

"He's crazy! He actually patted Gaara on the head!"

"I'll kill you!"

Just as they expected, Gaara flew into a rage. Half his body transformed into a Tailed Beast's form.

Temari and Kankuro were ready to flee. If the monster Gaara went berserk, they feared Konoha itself might be destroyed.

To them, Gaara was the most terrifying monster of all.

Uchiha Yoru activated his Sharingan and instantly entered Gaara's mental world.

"So this is a Sand Ninja Seal? What shoddy work!"

Uchiha Yoru looked at the battered cage. Shukaku's Chakra was still leaking from it.

If the Seal wasn't reinforced soon, Gaara would go berserk in Sunagakure even if he didn't do it in Konoha!

"Was it those eyes that let you into Lord Shukaku's mental world?"

"Die! Air Bullet!"

Even inside the cage, Shukaku could use Ninjutsu. A huge ball of wind blasted toward Uchiha Yoru.

"Boring!"

Uchiha Yoru dodged easily, then poured his ocular power through the Sharingan into Shukaku.

"Bark like a dog!"

"Woof! Woof!"

"Here, go fetch a bone!"

Uchiha Yoru tossed out a bone. Shukaku shot after it like an arrow and obediently brought it back in his mouth.

"Good boy!"

"Gaara, the monster inside you is this guy."

This is the monster that's tormented me for years?

Gaara looked at the utterly undignified Shukaku, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

"Do you trust me?"

Gaara nodded. Even his father couldn't do anything about the monster, yet the man before him had dealt with it so easily.

Clarity returned to Shukaku's eyes. His gaze shifted, and he remembered everything that had just happened.

"You made the great Lord Shukaku act like your dog!"

"I'll kill you!"

Shukaku didn't care whether the young Gaara could withstand it. An enormous amount of Chakra spilled out of him. All he wanted now was to kill the man who had humiliated him.

"Come on, give me a bark!"

"Woof!"

"Give me your paw!"

"Okay!"

Shukaku obediently stuck out his tongue and offered his paw.

"Are you done causing trouble?" Uchiha Yoru released his ocular control and spoke.

Shukaku looked deeply resentful, but he didn't dare say a word!

"He isn't that scary! Once you're strong enough, you can control him and use his power!"

Uchiha Yoru tried to reassure Gaara.

"Shukaku, from now on, you're not allowed to disturb Gaara's sleep. Otherwise, I'll have Gaara let you out and make you do this every day until you're the laughingstock of the entire Shinobi World!"

"Everyone in the Shinobi World will know Shukaku is a lapdog!"

Shukaku nodded in humiliation. He was a Tailed Beast that struck fear into people's hearts! If this got out, what would his brothers and sisters think of him? Especially that stinking fox!

"Big brother, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead!" Uchiha Yoru answered like a caring older brother.

"Why do I exist? What's the point of my life?" Gaara asked.

Because of his father, he had stopped trusting anyone when he was little. He had come to believe that killing strong people was the only way to prove he existed.

But Uchiha Yoru had shaken that belief. Uchiha Yoru was strong too! Did Gaara have to kill this big brother who treated him so well?

Uchiha Yoru pointed to the mark on Gaara's forehead. "Your mother must have loved you very much!"

"I never met my mother. She didn't love me at all!"

"Then why does this sand protect you?"

"I can feel such warm Chakra in it! Your mother left it behind, didn't she? She loved you all along! That's why she left her Chakra to protect you!"

"Is that true?"

Gaara could hardly believe it. But the sand really had stayed with him and protected him all this time.

"The meaning of your existence is something you have to find for yourself! You need to ask your own heart!" Uchiha Yoru pointed at Gaara's chest.

"My heart!"

At that moment, warmth filled Gaara's heart. Apart from Yashamaru, Uchiha Yoru was the second person to make him feel this way.

"Let's head out. Shukaku, you'd better behave! Let Gaara get a good night's sleep, or you know what'll happen!"

Uchiha Yoru left Shukaku with that warning in Gaara's mental world, then took Gaara out.

"Bastard!"

Shukaku cursed under his breath, but obediently drew back the Chakra that had leaked out.

"Gaara, are you all right?"

As soon as Gaara returned to normal, Temari hurried over to support him.

Kankuro still made a point of keeping his distance.

"I'm fine, Temari! Let's go!"

Temari froze. Gaara had never spoken to her so gently before.

"Oh... Oh, okay!"

"Yoru, what did you do to him?" Sasuke Uchiha watched Gaara leave, feeling as though something precious had been taken from him.

"Nothing. I just told them to go easy on you."

"Teacher Yoru, I'm going to beat those jerks into the ground for looking down on me!" Naruto Uzumaki said angrily.

"I look forward to it!"

Uchiha Yoru used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished before their eyes.

Today's encounter had been planned well in advance. Otherwise, how could he have happened upon the Sand Ninja so conveniently?

Gaara had been won over by Naruto's words and become his devoted fan.

After that talk and Uchiha Yoru's help with the danger inside Gaara, it wasn't too much to expect Gaara to become attached to him, was it?

The future Kazekage as my little brother. That sounds pretty good!

Naruto and Sasuke, his two useful pawns, were growing too slowly. He still had to handle every problem himself. With Gaara's help, he could finally take it easy.

Gaara was a Sand Ninja, so he wouldn't come to Konoha? Why not? Couldn't they have a friendly exchange?

Konoha was the leading Ninja village, rich in resources. Sunagakure still depended on Konoha's support!

Surely asking them to leave Gaara behind in exchange for supplies wasn't too much!

After the Konoha Crush and the Kazekage's death, Sunagakure would be badly weakened. They wouldn't be in any position to bargain with Konoha.