[ He hasn't seen or heard from Naruto since the switch incident and their unexpectedly violent encounter, but Kushina's missives are occasionally appended by scrawls from her son, and if he doesn't feel close to him, they're at least making him a familiar presence in Gaara's life.
So when one of his ANBU minders takes pity on the konoha-nin and appears beside Gaara to whisper that a Leaf shinobi in lurid orange is asking around the village for him, it only takes him a few minutes to shelve his reports and training plans, and another few to appear behind Naruto in a localised whirl of sand that settles only after nudging his clothing back into perfect order. ]
who is this minor character idk i'll just tag them i guess. 02!!!
So when one of his ANBU minders takes pity on the konoha-nin and appears beside Gaara to whisper that a Leaf shinobi in lurid orange is asking around the village for him, it only takes him a few minutes to shelve his reports and training plans, and another few to appear behind Naruto in a localised whirl of sand that settles only after nudging his clothing back into perfect order. ]
Naruto.