New Sensei - 1

Gaara's dreams were seldom pleasant.

For the past few nights he was constantly plagued with dark images and faces of his youth, and he made damn sure he didn't speak a word about it to either Naruto or Haku.

There were whispered undercurrents of rage in his thoughts and even with the Shukaku being under his control for nearly six years, he would wake with the terrified faces of Temari and Kankuro still in his mind, just as he had this morning.

"Hey Gaara," The red haired boy felt a large pillow impact his face with peculiar force, "You know usually you're the one waking me up, but I guess there's a first time for everything!"

"...you dunce..." Gaara sat up and threw the cushion back at the blonde, clipping him in the side of the head.

He'd have liked to have remained asleep to revel in the sight of his elder siblings memories (despite their wild fear at the time), but he chose not dwell on it. He forced himself back into the uncomfortable plain of consciousness.

Naruto grinned and threw the pillow into the open door of Haku's bedroom (from where it was stolen) and watched as Gaara let out a string of grumbling noises.

"Sheesh, put a shirt on will you?" The blonde snorted at the sight of his roommate's bare torso, "You look like some kinda ghost you're so freaking pale!"

Gaara frowned. True, he was seriously lacking some skin pigment, but he'd rather not have his bothersome friend annoy him and invade his privacy so early.

"Get out of my room, Naruto."

"Sure thing, Cranky," The Kyuubi container backed out of the doorway but poked his head back in, "Haku-kun just wants to know why the hell you slept in again. I mean, since we're Genin now he thinks that you'd probably-"

The door slammed in his face with a loud bang.

Naruto grinned to himself, 'Yep, he's fine!'

Naruto wisely decided to leave Gaara alone for a while and returned to the kitchen where Haku had finished preparing the usual morning meal. The dark haired boy sat down and nibbled at a bite of egg while he concentrated on reading a scroll.

"Is he awake yet, Naruto-kun?" He asked without looking up.

"Yeah," The blonde sat down across from Haku and helped himself to some breakfast, "I had to use that shirt-excuse again though."

Haku paused and smirked to himself, "He really hates that you know...he's a bit self-conscious."

"Why else would I use it?" Naruto said before slurping his miso.

It was enough to earn a good-hearted laugh from Haku and he continued on reading, very amused with his friend's antics.

Naruto caught a brief glimpse of the scroll that Haku had been ferociously reviewing and was fairly curious about it. Haku rarely, if ever, read basic Ninjutsu scrolls. Naruto and Gaara had noticed that Haku had developed an insatiable appetite for 'higher-level' techniques...or so he called them.

When of course, all it really meant was that he always had a keen, open eye for B-level jutsu and higher.

And for some strange reason, Haku had a knack for 'picking-up' certain scrolls and such in that ever-unobtrusive manner of his. All the more sense for the Chunin teachers in the Academy to label him 'naturally brilliant'...which was partly true.

Anything he did absorb into that clever head of his he didn't flaunt often. Haku wasn't foolish enough to alert any high-ranking officials that he enjoyed stealing scrolls and picking apart their contents.

But what could he say? It was one of his and Naruto's favorite pastimes, and until recently (with the involvement of the traitorous Mizuki) this fetish was gradually being passed along to Gaara as well.

So Naruto didn't hesitate to ask, "What do you have there, Haku-kun?"

Haku looked up, "Oh, it's just a Shinjutsu scroll. It has detailed descriptions of the human body. It's also more complicated than I thought."

"A what?" Naruto was disappointed, "You mean that acupuncture crap? What's so great about poking people?"

Haku clarified for him, "I want to use it in combination with my senbon that Tenten gave to me."

The blonde nodded thoughtfully, "Right, right...so is she cute?"

"Who? Tenten?"

"Well yeah! Gaara didn't tell me what happened while I was gone yesterday and you keep talking about this Tenten girl, so..." Naruto grinned mischievously, "What's she like?"

"She's...fun company. And fairly pretty, I admit..." Haku added, "Though I'm sure you understand I'm more focused on training than-"

"Having any sort of social life?" Naruto finished for him, smirking.

"Well...yes." A faint blush appeared on his cheeks.

The blonde's smirk widened after he finished his miso soup, "You're worse than Gaara sometimes, Haku."

"You are entitled to your own opinion." Haku went on to change the subject, "But as I was saying, shinjutsu is a very precise art and can disable enemies completely if done correctly."

"Sounds right up your alley." Naruto acknowledged, "I still don't see how sticking needles in someone actually counts as 'art' though."

Certainly Naruto was not foolish enough to bait Haku, was he?

"I can give you a small demonstration..." The dark haired boy suggested, standing and walked over to Naruto who didn't seem very much bothered as he ate.

"Make note, Naruto-kun, this is a very basic strike," Haku warned while tapping a particular point on the blonde's upper left arm.

"Wha-?" Naruto jerked as if he had been slapped, and dropped his chopsticks much to Haku's delight.

Gaara entered the room just in time to witness the uncontrollable twitching that came over the right side of Naruto's face. He stopped just next to Haku to watch the effects of the shinjutsu strike that left Naruto confused and unable to eat.

"You have to do this more often." Gaara said quietly, and Haku nodded while Naruto struggled to regain control over his facial muscles.

One tap on the side of the neck ended the Kyuubi container's convulsions. Gaara silently wondered how long Naruto's predicament would've lasted had Haku not done anything about it.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Naruto had a new respect for acupuncture and related skills.

"A simple maneuver," Haku closed his scroll with a pleased smirk, "That pressure point sent messages to your brain to contract your jaw muscles."

"That's pretty freaky..." Naruto mumbled, rubbing his face.

Gaara had sat down and began to eat, glad that Naruto had some sense knocked (poked) into him that morning. Haku was elated to get his point across to his blonde friend so vividly.

"We should leave soon," Haku announced, finishing his bowl of rice, "Today they announce the Genin squads...we shouldn't miss it."

Gaara and Naruto grinned at the dark haired boy.