Gaara looked around the area where his prey had escaped to. Having shaken off the plants that strange creature had sent on him, the Sand ninja was out for blood, both figuratively and very literally. His Sand Armor had shifted back into place, giving him his emotionless façade, but it was more than clear from the hungry look in his eyes that Gaara was far from satisfied.
"Hunt them down, Gaara! The Kyuubi's vessel, those Leaf ninja, that hybrid freak…KILL THEM ALL SO I MAY BASK IN THEIR BLOOD!" a dark, psychotic sounding voice shouted from within the boy's mind.
"Yes mother, they will all die by my hand and you shall have your fill. So many targets, so many ways to prove my existence!"
The redhead then spotted some civilians who were nearby stopping to watch what they thought was just another disagreement between ninja. A smirk formed behind Gaara's sand as his leftover sand began slithering towards the unsuspecting humans. Perhaps he could entertain himself and mother as he gave chase. However, just as the sand began to wrap around them, the people disappeared in puffs of smoke and left life-sized clown dolls with words like 'Sucker' and 'Fool' written on them.
"Ah, ah, ah, Raccoon-Eyes, no outside interference or I'll have to penalize you!" a taunting voice called out. In a puff of smoke, Discord floated above the Sand ninja in a referee's uniform.
Suddenly, Gaara found himself in a boxing ring and somehow his clothes had been replaced by that of a boxer's (though his gourd remained). "Laaaadies and gentleninja! In this corner weighing I don't know how many pounds and probably some ounces, we have Gaara 'Raccoon-Eyes' of the Desert! And in this corner, weighing probably some more pounds and ounces, we have Naruto 'Fishcake' Uzumaki!" Discord announced on a mic he held in his paw. A spotlight lit up the opposite side of the ring, showing Naruto in similar attire to Gaara and looking nervous. "Let's get ready to RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Discord cheered as he rang a bell that had materialized beside him.
Suddenly, another Discord dressed as a trainer appeared next to Naruto and was rubbing his shoulders. "Alright champ, remember the game plan Pineapple-Head came up with. Keep tha' bum distracted and make sure his sand don't catch yah, otherwise you'll have more than sand in yer shorts to worry about!" Discord informed his 'summoner' while speaking in a Brooklyn accent.
"I am uncomfortable with this plan," Naruto claimed as he wiped some of the nervous sweat from his brow.
"Don't worry, as long as you got me watching your back you'll be-erk!" Discord chocked out at the end as a tendril of sand looped around his long neck like a noose.
"Your existence annoys me," Gaara said from his side of the ring as he made a motion with his hand. "Die."
The sand tightened around Discord's neck and the Chaos Lord began to turn an array of colors. First was blue, then purple, then neon orange, then a neon-checker pattern. Discord's concentration on the area seemed to fail as the ring and the two shinobis clothes became normal in a flash, leaving them to fight on a thankfully empty street in Konoha. Finally, as it looked like the sand was about to break his neck, Discord reached up with his talon and actually pulled his head off like one might a hat. After the sand noose faded, Discord reattached his head with an annoyed scowl on his face. "Do you mind? I was trying to have a conversation!"
Gaara stood still for a minute or two, looking at the Draconequus with dead eyes. Suddenly, his look became more maniacal as he said in a whisper that could still be heard, "This creature is beginning to interest me. I'm going to enjoy proving my existence by killing you!"
"If you want to prove you exist, try looking in a mirror!" Discord snapped as a full length mirror suddenly appeared in front of the redhead. "It might do you some good anyway. I mean, just look at yourself!" Discord chastised as he took on the appearance of Rarity.
"Have you seen your hair? It's a rat's nest! And the bags and tattoo aren't doing you any favors! Tsk, tsk, you should take more pride in your appearance." Suddenly, the mirror shattered to reveal Gaara standing with his arms crossed and multiple tendrils of sand whipping around him. "…you know that's seven years bad luck, right?" Discord deadpanned as he resumed his normal form.
"Get over here!" Gaara sneered as he shot his sand at the Chaos Spirit.
Before the sand could make contact, Naruto leapt from his place on the sidelines and, using a kunai he had palmed, cut the tendrils back. "Hey, jacka**!" Naruto growled, "Your fight's with me, so leave Discord out of it!"
Discord was momentarily at a loss for words. Was Fishcake…defending him? In his 1000+ years of living, no one had ever done that before! It was especially weird considering what a pain in the flank Discord had been to the boy since they had met.
Naruto continued to talk, "He may be obnoxious, annoying, and a royal pain in my a**, but he's one of the people I can call my friend, so you'll have to get through me first!"
Again, Discord was at a loss for words. Fishcake actually considered him…a friend? He honestly never had a friend before, so this was quite a new experience for the Disharmonious One. Discord shook his thoughts off for the moment so he could focus on the sandy psychopath in front of him now. He'd think more on Fishcake, no, Naruto's words and actions later if they survive the next five minutes. Then maybe he could figure out what this tight feeling was in his chest.
"Friend, huh?" Gaara repeated with a chuckle, one that was filled with bitter resentment. "What a foolish notion. Friends don't make you strong, you can only rely on yourself for strength. That is how I have always been, a demon who loves only himself."
A chill ran down Naruto's spine at those words, as he had all but confirmed that Gaara was a demon container just like he was. 'Is…is this what I could have been like if I didn't meet people like Gramps, Iruka-sensei, and my team?' he wondered, shivering at the thought. The self-preservation part of him seriously wanted to back down. Yet, Naruto highly doubted he could escape even if he tried to flee. But, as scared as he was, Naruto shoved his fear to the side, and decided to face Gaara head-on. A Hokage would do that sort of thing.
Discord's thoughts were of a similar nature, 'Yeesh, this kid…there is definitely something not right with him. I mean, I get where he's coming from and all, but killing people just for the sake of killing? That ain't a kind of chaos I'd want to get behind no matter how desperate I get!'
"Oi, Fishcake!" Naruto glanced back at the smirking Discord for only a moment. "Let's hurry and kick ol' Raccoon-Eyes' sandy cheeks to the curb and head home."
"Right!" Naruto grinned.
Gaara then gave another dark chuckle as he raised both of his hands, instantly putting the human and Draconequus on guard. "If you're so eager to protect each other…then you can DIE TOGETHER!" he finished in a dark voice as a wave of sand nearly as tall as a building rose up behind him.
Naruto gave a subtle look to Discord and the Draconequus was able to get his meaning: divide and conquer. Naruto made a familiar hand sign and soon, over a dozen Naruto's were in the area. They all ran to different sides of the murderous Gaara and gave out taunts like 'Over here!' and 'Can't catch me!' Gaara, not wanting to miss his target, spread out his sand wave and used it to attack all the clones at once. The sand easily caught and crushed the blondes, but they all went up in puffs of smoke. Gaara whipped his head around, trying to find the boy and his pet freak. What he didn't see was Naruto standing on a cotton candy cloud above his head while Discord subtly slinked behind the unsuspecting sand user.
Just then, Gaara heard a loud noise and turned to its source. There stood Discord with an industrial sized vacuum in his mismatched hands. The vacuum's suction was so strong that all of Gaara's sand started to get cleaned up. "Nothing like a little Spring cleaning!" Discord shouted over the loud noise.
Naruto got ready to pounce the moment Gaara's Ultimate Defense was taken away. However, Gaara made a gesture with both hands and the vacuum was ripped apart like a piñata, setting his captured sand free.
"USELESS!" Gaara cried as he prepared to send sand in all directions in sharp spikes. "USELESS, USELESS, USELESS!"
One of said spikes pierced the cloud Naruto was on, causing it to disperse and for him to fall to the ground where he was caught by a large, clawed hand made of sand. Discord meanwhile was able to dodge the spikes by bending his body in strange and twisting ways, including the usage of a Twister mat to do so. However, the ground he was on soon gave way to a pitfall trap and buried Discord up to his neck. The Draconequus tried to move out of the trap but found that, like earlier, he couldn't force the sand off of him, like it had a will of its own. Naruto was dumped unceremoniously next to the still buried Discord and the sand surrounding them reared up like a snake coiling to strike.
"Nowhere to run," Gaara stated before giving a pushing movement with his hand. "Die in a desert."
The sand surged forward and the two continued to try and break out. However, before they could get free or the sand reached them, a glorious green-clad figure suddenly appeared in front of the duo in a defensive position. The sand halted at that and Gaara seemed to recognize the man, as he clutched his head as if in pain.
Naruto recognized the man as well. "Bushy Brow-sensei!" he called out in relief, causing Discord to raise an eyebrow at the 'unique' nickname. His other eyebrow soon joined the other as the man briefly turned his head to see if the two were alright. The man looked like an older version of that Lee kid, right down to the overly bushy eyebrows.
Might Guy turned his attention back to the redhead that had tried to kill both his student and the youthful individuals who had prevented him from doing so. "And just what do you think you are doing?" he asked in a surprisingly serious voice for someone so…not serious looking.
The sand around them slowly disintegrated around them, being absorbed back into Gaara's gourd. Gaara meanwhile, clutched his head while he took in ragged breaths. As soon as his sand fully returned to its gourd, Gaara suddenly straightened and was blank-faced as if nothing had ever even happened. He simply crossed his arms over his chest and slowly started walking away.
He paused briefly, turning back to look at them. "I will kill all of you, very soon," he stated as if it were fact. "And by doing so, I will prove my existence."
The redhead then went back to simply walking away, as if he had never even been trying to kill anyone.
Discord wanted to say a quip or something, but he held his tongue, in the figurative sense. He was finding that this world tended to be rather painful if he didn't.
Naruto swayed slightly, weary from exhaustion and exerting himself. The fact that he was absolutely starving didn't help, either.
"Are you both alright?" Guy-sensei asked, quirking a thick eyebrow at the pair.
Naruto silently nodded.
"Wowie! That was a close one!" Discord wiped his brow. He quickly floated over to the one clad in green and shook his hand, "Thank you, good sir!"
"Of course, Strange One!" Guy-sensei nodded and smirked, allowing his teeth to *twinkle*
Discord briefly paused. He didn't know that the Humans here were capable of that.
"Anyway, where's my precious student?" Guy-sensei asked. "That youthful Nara boy said something about hiding him away in a tree…"
"Of course!" Discord snapped his talon, and Lee appeared before them, floating on a pink cloud, still passed out. He was glad that Pineapple-Head came through. Where was the kid, anyway?
"Lee!" Guy-sensei quickly scooped up Lee, checking him for any injuries. Giving a sigh of relief, Guy-sensei turned to the Draconequus and the blond. "Thank you, for protecting my precious student."
"Yeah…" Naruto forced a smile.
"Sure thing, Bushy-Brows the First!" Discord happily dubbed the man.
"Heh," Bushy Brows I chuckled at the nickname. "Well, I'm taking Lee back to his room, and I'll send someone to get Shikamaru…"
He paused when Discord snapped his paw and (somewhat) surprised Shikamaru suddenly appeared before them, sitting on a pink cloud.
"Hey there, Pineapple-Head." Discord greeted with a smirk.
"Freaky goat," Shikamaru lazily returned.
"What happened to you?" Naruto asked.
"Well…" Shikamaru sighed. "When I finally found Guy-sensei, my chakra was pretty much depleted, as much of a drag as it was. I figured I would just watch the clouds from where I collapsed…"
"Heh…" Naruto gave a half-hearted chuckle. "That's just like you, Shikamaru."
"Well, let's head back in…" Guy-sensei started, but Naruto shook his head.
"Actually…I'm going to head home, now. I'm feeling better…I'll see you later, Shikamaru. Thanks again, Bushy-Brow-sensei."
Naruto trudged off, and Discord gave Bushy Brows I and Shikamaru a salute before floating off after Naruto.
The blond appeared to be depressed, given how Discord could almost see a raincloud hovering over him.
"What's the deal, Fishcake?" Discord asked. "Hey, about some ramen from that Ichiraku place you like so much?"
"Okay," Naruto managed a smile – well, it was more like a grimace.
The two walked in silence for a few more minutes before Naruto spoke up again. "I could have been like him, Discord."
"What? Like who?" Discord questioned, slightly confused about the sudden comment.
"Gaara…he's got a monster in him like I do…" Naruto stared at his feet. "If I hadn't had people like Iruka-Sensei, Gramps, Kakashi-Sensei, my teammates, and even you…" Discord's eyes widened briefly at that. There was that strange feeling again.
"Then…" Naruto shivered. "I would've been alone, killing without remorse. That's what I would've become…Just thinking about it…it's honestly terrifying."
"H-hey, c'mon, Fishcake!" Discord said, smiling. "Here's the deal, don't let that frown get you down," he pulled Naruto's cheeks into a smile. "Let me tell ya something, Naruto." The blond stopped his glaring when Discord used his name. "You aren't like that Raccoon-Eyes character at all. You shouldn't look at what could have been, but rather focus on the here and now. You want to be Hokage because keeping people alive is what's really important to you, right?" Naruto nodded. "And clearly, ol' Raccoon-Eyes' focus is destroying as much as possible. You two are as different as night and day."
Discord released Naruto, and the blond finally managed a true smile. "…Thanks, Discord."
"Sure thing, Fishcake. Now how about that ramen?"
The two made their way to Ichiraku's and made their orders, with Discord adding whipped cream and a cherry on top of his miso ramen. The Human and Draconequus then started to just talk without the usual sarcastic remarks, biting comments, or other antagonistic dialogue. They talked about many different things, from Discord telling stories about his time in Equestria (often exaggerated on his part but all together truthful) while Naruto told the Chaos Spirit about his own pranking exploits and about his short time as a ninja. The duo had some laughs at each other's stories while simultaneously being intrigued about their different lives. As the day slowly became night, the odd duo left the ramen stand, both feeling that they had started their first steps on becoming true partners through mutual understanding.
After getting back to the apartment, the blonde began getting ready for bed while trying to psych himself up for the Third Exam tomorrow while Discord idly lay his serpentine body on the couch. Just as Naruto was about to go into his bedroom, Discord called out, "Say, Naruto?"
Knowing by now Discord only called him by his actual name when he wanted to seriously discuss something with the boy, Naruto walked over to the lounging Lord of Disharmony. Naruto took a seat on a nearby chair and asked, "What do you need, Discord?"
The hybrid creature paused for a moment as if debating on whether or not to ask this next part. "Earlier, when we were facing off against Sandy the Raccoon-Eyed-Psychopath, you called me your friend…did you mean that?"
Naruto gave a gentle smile at that. "Yeah Discord, I did. Sure, you're obnoxious, rude, and often disgusting, but you've actually helped me out a lot since we met. So yes, I think we're friends. Besides," at this he gave a mischievous grin, "I can't remember the last time this village was so lively!"
That weird feeling returned as Discord processed the blonde's words. He also felt a slight stinging in his eyes, probably leftover sand from escaping Raccoon-Eyes. "Oh…I…never really had a friend before," he said in a more gentle tone than he normally uses.
Naruto frowned momentarily at that before smiling again and saying, "Well, I guess that makes me the first, huh? Do I win a prize or something," he finished jokingly.
Discord smiled at the banter and said smoothly, "Why yes, you win a one way ticket to your bed! All expenses paid!"
With a snap of his paw, Naruto was instantly teleported to his bed with the covers already on him. The whiskered ninja was about ready to go to bed before pausing. "Say, Discord?" he asked, knowing the Chaos Spirit was still listening.
Discord appeared by his bed in a poof of smoke and asked, "Yes, Fishcake?"
Naruto paused before saying what had been on his mind ever since waking up in the hospital, "Do you think I'll be ready for the Exam tomorrow?"
Discord scoffed, "What a silly question, and trust me, I know silly! Of course you'll be ready, Fishcake! You've been training this entire month if I've heard correctly, and you're now able to summon toads bigger then Ponyville itself! Not to mention you have me in your corner, so you might as well have already passed whatever exam you're doing."
Naruto grinned at that and said, "Thanks Discord, I needed to hear that."
"Any time Fishcake, good night," Discord said before flicking off the light with his tail and leaving the room via the door this time.
Naruto was able to fall asleep soon after, his worries alleviated slightly by Discord's words while the Draconequus lay on the roof for a bit staring at the night sky.
'Friends, huh?' he thought. At any rate, tomorrow was sure to be interesting!