"Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto met Gaara's gaze, his expression calm. "I did indeed discover you beforehand. As for why, I think it's probably because we might be the same kind of people."
Naruto naturally knew about Shukaku inside Gaara. Shukaku would constantly vie for control of the body with Gaara, causing him to never dare to sleep, which was why his dark circles were so heavy.
Although he had Nine-Tails inside him, his seal was perfect, so naturally, he didn't suffer from insomnia.
Moreover, Gaara had been raised by his own father as a weapon.
Both of them were Tailed Beast Jinchuriki, so naturally, they were the same kind of people.
At this stage, Gaara had no positive identification with the concept of a Jinchuriki. His only identity was that of a lonely monster.
Naruto saying this wasn't to change Gaara's perception, but to link them together under the label of being monsters. In this way, within his cognitive framework, Naruto would be automatically classified by Gaara as an existence that shared his same plight. For the later Konoha Crush Plan, this was an extremely important piece of foreshadowing.
Gaara looked into Naruto's eyes, trying to find a trace of deceit or hypocrisy, but found none. Naruto's gaze was very clean, with no fear, or deliberate ingratiation.
"The same kind of people?" Gaara muttered.
Then he turned his head away, his voice returning to the previously indifferent tone. "Hmph, boring."
He turned around, the sand flowing beneath his feet. "Uzumaki Naruto, we will meet at the Chunin Exams."
Kankuro and Temari exchanged a look and then quickened their pace to follow Gaara.
The figures of the three Sunagakure Ninjas gradually disappeared at the end of the street.
When the figures of the three disappeared from the street, Konohamaru finally exhaled a long breath, as if the pause button had finally been released.
He jumped up on the spot, the fear of being hoisted in mid-air long since having flown off to who knows which galaxy, replaced by eyes shining with admiration.
"Wow! You were super cool just now! You rushed over in a 'whoosh,' and before I could even blink, I saw that you had already grabbed that big guy's wrist!"
"When did you learn such a powerful move? Teach me, please? I want to learn too."
Naruto reached out and pressed down on Konohamaru's head. "That's enough, Konohamaru. A lot of people from other villages have come to the village lately. You three had better stay home and behave yourselves, and don't run around everywhere."
Konohamaru was indignant. "Why? I haven't even shown you the super Ninjutsu I just developed yet."
Naruto bent down. "Because your identity is very sensitive. There are many ninjas from other villages moving about in the village right now. At any moment, there could be someone with ulterior motives looking to target you."
Konohamaru blinked, stunned by Naruto's serious attitude. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but seeing Naruto's serious expression, he swallowed his words back down.
"Alright, I understand."
Naruto nodded. "Then hurry back. Moegi, Udon, you two be careful too."
"Okay, Naruto-nii." Moegi and Udon replied in unison.
Konohamaru took his two followers and jogged off in the direction of his home, turning back to wave at Naruto the whole way, shouting as he ran, "Naruto-nii, you need to be careful of that red-haired weirdo from just now..."
Before he could finish speaking, he nearly tripped over a pebble on the ground.
After the three little ones had run off, Naruto withdrew his gaze and turned his attention to Sasuke, who had been standing under the tree the whole time. He didn't even need to look to know that Sasuke was staring at him.
"Sasuke, why are you looking at me like that?"
Sasuke leaned against the tree trunk, staring straight at Naruto with a serious expression. "Loser, when did you become this strong?"
He had seen it very clearly just now. From the moment Naruto vanished from where he stood to appearing in front of Kankuro and grabbing his wrist—a distance of at least ten meters—Naruto had crossed it in almost an instant.
It wasn't the Body Flicker Technique. That required hand seals, but Naruto's hands had been hanging naturally at his sides at the time, with absolutely no signs of hand seals. This was pure physical speed.
And that kind of speed was something he couldn't achieve right now.
Before he had fallen unconscious, Naruto was still that loser who was slower than him even at tree climbing.
But since he had fallen unconscious, Naruto had used a method he didn't know to break Haku's Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, and later, he learned from Kakashi that Naruto had even defeated Haku.
Now, he had even used a wrist joint lock to subdue an official ninja from Sunagakure.
Furthermore, his way of speaking and his expression when fighting had all changed.
The Naruto of the past would bare his teeth when fighting, wanting to shout with every punch, but the current Naruto didn't say a word when fighting, remaining as calm as Kakashi.
He couldn't understand it but he had to know the answer.
Naruto glanced at Sasuke and nodded. "Yeah, after returning from the Land of Waves, I trained for a while. My strength is indeed a bit greater than before."
Sasuke's brow furrowed even deeper.
Trained for a while? Could a loser really train to this kind of speed in just a few days?
He wanted to ask more, but the words died on his lips.
He was Sasuke, he would not pester others for training methods, as that was something only the weak would do. He was a genius, always walking ahead of Naruto, the person Naruto had to use all his strength to catch up to. But now, he vaguely felt that this position seemed less certain for him.
Sasuke shoved his hands back into his pockets, and clenched them tightly into fists. Then he walked back the way he came without saying a word.