Chapter 27

XXXXX- TEMARI POV

After Gaara's sendoff, the rest of the trip to Konohagakure had been relatively simple and straightforward. Like everyone had seen coming, Kankuro was already complaining about his face feeling itchy on the second day of the trip. Idiot that he was, he didn't take Gaara's suggestion of waiting till he arrived in Konoha to apply the war paint, or even my own suggestion of forgoing the paint entirely. Sure, it had been hip seventy years ago, but now it just looked comical.

But apart from that, everything about the trip seemed to be going well. The other genin were nice and friendly. We got more attention than everyone else, but we bore it with ease. Being the children of the fourth Kazekage and the siblings of the fifth, it was understandable that the other genin would find us a bit odd, and there was also the jounin who watched us too with inscrutable looks on their faces.

I would have feared for my life if I wasn't the sister of the kage that I was. Gaara wasn't popular with the citizens or even the ninja populace as a person. Perhaps he never would be. People held grudges for a while, and memories of the Ichibi no Shukaku were slow to leave. But as a Kage? He'd probably go down as one of the best. He'd already fixed a lot of the day to day problems plaguing the average resident. Having lived in the mansion all my life, I didn't hav emuch of an understanding about how living outside of it could be. I mean, Rin and the rest tried to give me context, but some things needed to be worked through. At least, according to the group of girls that I'd made friends with in the academy, things had been looking up since Gaara took the hat.

Things like water and electricity no longer needed to be rationed so strictly, and more and more citizens of Suna were being given jobs all around the Land of Wind. Rin's dad had even been employed as a surveyor to help in increasing the mining efforts in the mountainous regions of Kaze no Kuni. I still remembered the way Naki had swept me into a hug and told me to thank Gaara for her. Both her parents were in danger of losing their home, but Gaara's policies had gotten the both of them highly paying jobs in the mining and banking sectors. I didn't understand everything they said. Things like economics and business were for career genin like them, not future elites like myself. But what I did understand was that Gaara was doing a good job.

That wasn't the reason I wasn't scared of anything happening though. Everyone was scared of Gaara. I'm ashamed to say it, but until recently, both Kankuro and I would have fallen under that umbrella as well. It was just too easy to be scared of him. A prodigy like him? A chunin at six? A fully trained medical ninja before he turned 8, and Kage at 12? He was the kind of ninja you heard tales about? Not the kind you woke up to and met struggling not to burn the kitchen down as he tried to prepare pancakes for you because you'd told him your period had been kicking your ass the night before.

The fact that he was so sweet contrasted way too heavily with the reputation he had. I remembered one of the first things I'd heard about Gaara from Baki, "Your brother? He wouldn't recognise you as such so abandon that idea now. Gaara of the Desert is a cold hearted killer. Never have I met anyone so well suited to being a shinobi than him. He would stab right through you if he had to to get to his enemy" Baki had said when I'd asked him about Gaara before we'd gone on that fateful mission.

And then Gaara had proved him wrong by saving our lives. That was when I knew that the rest of the world was wrong. They'd never see the brother I saw. The Kage I saw. Gaara cared. He improved things in Suna because he cared about the village. He stepped in to help Kankuro and I because he cared about us as his siblings. He had a bigger heart than anyone who didn't know him would ever be able to guess. The sad part was that we didn't know him until a few months ago. It was what made me a bit happy about Father's death. We'd lost one family member and gained another, because without having Father around to keep us separate, Gaara could be our brother. He could be an actual part of the family.

Enough of that though, it was time to set camp for the night. We'd make it into Konoha tomorrow, and after that we had three days until the first stage of the chunin exams began.

XXXXXX

The first stage of the chunin exams. A written test. Of all the things they could go with, this had to be it. Bunch of weakling tree hungers. I'd heard of a chunin exam where all the competitors were trapped in a death room, and whoever made it alive got to make it to the next stage. That was the kind of thing I was looking for, not this pansy stuff. At that thought, I did my best to clear my mind. Kankuro was clearly infecting me with his peculiar brand of Kankuro-ness more than I'd expected.

When the sheets were passed around, finally, I just stared at the questions in shock. What was this? Barely anything here had even been covered in the academy. I mean I could see some questions I could answer, but the knowledge for those actually came from the occasional conversation with Gaara. My brother was taciturn most of the time, but Kankuro and I had quickly learned that an easy way to get him talking for long periods was to ask a question about something academic that he had to explain.

Sure, it wasn't the most entertaining way to spend an afternoon, but it was our brother. Our perfect little brother. Back to the questions, and after I answered the few that I could, I stared at the back of Kankuro's head, waiting to see what would happen. When something began to crawl up my leg, I did my best not to react as a puppet arm holding a piece of paper revealed itself. I waited till the examiner was busy sending someone out before I grabbed the sheet of paper and placed it right on top of mine on the desk. It had my name and exam number written in perfect script with all the questions answered correctly. I recognised the writing as Shira's and wasted no time in hiding my original paper and leaning back to watch the exam unfold. Of course Shira could answer the questions. The boy had been held back at the academy for so long, he'd studied the entire curriculum and then some.

A few minutes later the proctor began to speak. I didn't pay complete attention, but I did hear the bit about those who failed this exam never being allowed to take the exams again. What a terrible clown. I almost actually laughed when people began to fall for it and resign. Who was this jounin from Konoha who thought he'd be able to tell actual Kage what they could and could not do with their own military forces. As if. When a team from Suna actually fell for it, I was tempted to toss my shoe at the idiots as they walked away. Fools.

When the blonde haired loudmouth Kankuro had argued with yesterday stood up to begin shouting about how he'd become Hokage even if he had to do it as an eternal genin. What an idiot? But somehow, even his foolishness sounded inspiring. It gave me a lightness in my chest as he glowed with a light I couldn't see. Was this what it meant to be charismatic? He spoke like an idiot, but still, part of me wanted to believe in his blustering. Reality was too strong for that, though. Kage were unfailing prodigies in every way. Being a genin by 12 (he looked 12) probably disqualified him immediately.

Of course, the stupid proctor then went on to reveal that the whole thing was a bluff after taking off his durag to show some pretty gruesome scars on his head. Fuck. That was metal as fuck. Hold on. Metal? As fuck? And now Gaara was in my head. Of course, the foul mouthed kage just had to infect me with his way of speaking.

XXXXXX

After some rest, we stood in front of the gate set aside for our team and waited for the nudist proctor to begin this exam. Just get another scroll and head to the tower at the centre. Too easy.

Of course, that just had to jinx it. It was only minutes into the exam. We'd barely travelled more than a kilometre into the forest as we tried to get as close to the tower as we could, when we were attacked.

They came out from nowhere, dressed in Iwa's blood red that never ceased to make the inner Rin in me clench at how it clashed with their varying skin tones. The very first one punched Kankuro right in the face and sent him flying. I ignored the impact and dropped to the floor before taking my fan out from the holster in my back and unrolling the first moon. This was the legacy Baki had left me, the training that led me towards the Sand corps. My wind affinity wasn't as strong as Gaara's. I couldn't just lift things up from across the room by controlling the air around them, but I had power in spades, and my brother had taught me a few tricks that these bastards would soon become very acquainted with.

Kankuro proved my faith in him to be well founded when senbon shot out en masse from the treeline at the trio of ninja as they dropped to the floor in front of Shira and I.

One of them, the fat one, went through seals before slapping his hand on the ground. The mud wall sprang up swiftly and surely, being just in time to shield them all from the senbon. Shira looked at me before I nodded and he jumped right in the treeline. If there was anyone who had gained a lot from training with Gaara's clone on the days when he could be convinced to stop wasting his time meditating and actually be of use to us, it was Shira. He listened to Gaara's words like they were the words of Kami himself, and soaked up his teachings like a sponge while coming back for more like a hungry dog.

The lesson we'd be showing these bastards? Flank tactics 101. Gaara's lessons always had stupid names like that. When the rain of senbon stopped, I swung my fan right at them, kneading my wind chakra within myself and folding it up on itself to amplify my output. The storm of cutting winds ripped the stone wall apart to reveal nothing but loose rocks. They'd substituted from behind the wall the moment it went up?

What kind of genin were these? I heard a sound from within the forest and I turned my fan in that direction and unleashed a storm of cutting winds in that direction that felled most of the trees to reveal nothing. I see. They were trying to bait me out or something. The bad news for them was that, I was the one in the open, were I was best suited to be. In the forest with them, were some of the most terrifying ninja I knew. Kankuro had taken the few hours of training Gaara could get him with Elder Chiyo most seriously, and Shira was Shira.

The sound of bone breaking helped me identify their location, and I tore it apart with winds again. This time, along with the wreckage and remains of cut up trees, there laid the slashed up body of an iwa nin. Good Shira was playing his role perfectly. The moment they retreated into the forest, we'd fallen into tactic 12, and the stratagem there was simple. Shira would confront the enemy, create a noise or sound to draw mine or Kankuro's attention, and we'd be the ones to actually take out the opponent. A sound to the left showed me one Iwa nin running right out of the forest, eyes wide and looking like he couldn't see a thing in front of him. He was running right at me, but I was willing to bet a good chunk of my allowance that he couldn't even see me. The signs of Kankuro's poisons were obvious. That's why I waved my fan once to tear his body to shreds. It was mercy.

Shira dropped from the treeline with a scroll in his hands and a barely perceptible smirk on his face. "The last one?" I asked. His smirk widened and he tossed me a scroll. 'Earth', the Kanji read. Good, we already had a 'Heaven' one.

"He was easy. Surrounded his fists in earth and thought that made us equals" The older boy scoffed at the notion and my smile rose to match his. After Gaara had given him the chance and taken the shot on him, Shira was always searching for opportunities to prove his value. To show that he was the equal of any ninja who could use nin or genjutsu. I knew Gaara had even given him some trump cards that made him confident in his odds. Gaara had given all three of us something, and until Kankuro and Shira told me what they had, I wouldn't be telling them what I'd been given. We were still competitors after all. It would be cruel for Konoha to make us face off against each other in the third stage, but it could happen.

When Kankuro finally came out from the treeline, Shira spoke, "We have our scrolls. Nothing else awaits us in this forest. Let's leave, and quickly" I agreed. Kankuro didn't.

"Why not help the rest of the Suna ninja? If we got ambushed, they might have also been ambushed." He said, showing unusual concern for our countrymen.

"Kankuro. Don't let your crush cloud your judgement" Crush? What crush?

"It's not about that. It's about helping our countrymen. Didn't Gaara teach you about that."

"Yes he did. But Kazekage-sama also taught me to think things through. How will we locate the other Suna ninja? What is the guarantee that they haven't already fallen to their possible attackers? And the longer we wait here, the more we open ourselves up to ambush from another team. Maybe a stronger, better coordinated team will show up the next time around, and it will be your dead bodies Kazekage-sama comes to Konoha to collect."

"Fuck you, Shira" My brother replied before jumping on a tree and starting to run. Luckily, he was heading towards the tower. Good. I looked at Shira but he just shrugged before joining Kankuro and I joined them with a sigh at the end. Men.

XXXXXX

Preliminaries? Trust Konoha to make their exams so simple that too many people were able to pass it. We'd be getting a series of one-on-one battles to determine our places in the next stage of the exams. And the selection for who'd be facing who was supposed to be random. But after the Uchiha boy had faced down an Iwa nin and torn him apart with brutal taijutsu and fire release, before a Hyuga boy had come down and done the same, the rest of the Iwa nin seemed to face off against each other. I might have believed in the randomness but I was a ninja, not a clown. Three fights. Iwa nin against Iwa nin all three times? Only an idiot would fall for that.

Add to that the fact that the Third Hokage sat on his throne above all of us staring down at the Iwa jounin with hard eyes, and it was clear to see that there was some subtext here I couldn't understand. At least I couldn't until Kankuro whispered the answer to me. Iwa had sent way too many ninjas here, and they were stronger than the average genin.

The fact that there was only one other sand team here proved that Kankuro's worries had been well-founded. But Shira's refutations still stood. The Suna team were also quickly eliminated as they went against a trio of Konoha genin, one after another. Each pairing seemed perfectly decided, to give each foreign ninja the hardest path forward and the Konoha ninja the easiest path. Of course, Konoha ninja would end up being paired up against each other in the second round of these preliminaries, but this round seemed dedicated to weeding out the foreigners with the Hokage sitting proudly on his throne daring us all to say something.

My first match was against one Iwa ninja. 'Daisuke', his name read on the board. I smiled as I took my place centre staged. The Hokage might have thought this would be enough to get us out, but he had to be underestimating us. We were the students of Gaara of the Desert, Ebizo of the roaring winds, and Baki. We wouldn't be stopped.

When the proctor signalled for the fight to start, I unrolled my fan to the third moon and swung it in the same motion. Gaara said it best, "Overkill doesn't exist. Strike hard, strike fast, and leave chaos in your wake" The winds hadn't been made to cut, though. So far, no one had killed their opponent, and I didn't fancy being the first. "Mercy is a gift. Give it often" The winds picked up my opponent, and carried him right to the end of the room before slamming him against the wall.

When the attack ended, he was unconscious on the floor. I smirked right up at Kankuro and Shira as the Konoha nin exploded into discourse. They could be so loud.