Chapter 53: Chunin Exam  

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Gaara found himself reluctantly dragged to the Uchiha compound by Sasuke.

As they approached the entrance, Uchiha Kento, standing guard, looked at Gaara and asked, "Young Master, who is this?"

Sasuke replied with pride, "This is Gaara, the Jinchūriki of the One-Tail from the Hidden Sand Village."

Gaara braced himself, expecting Uchiha Kento to look down on him or make some disparaging remark.

After all, who could possibly like a Jinchūriki? But to his surprise, Kento's eyes lit up with excitement.

"This is the One-Tail's Jinchūriki? I didn't expect him to be so… cute," Kento said, his voice filled with a strange warmth.

"Cute."

Gaara froze. This was the first time anyone had ever used that word to describe him.

Cute? Was he really talking about 'me'? Gaara couldn't understand why the Uchiha, a clan notorious for their ruthlessness, weren't treating him with the usual disdain he encountered everywhere else.

Why were they so tolerant of someone like him, who housed a tailed beast?

Without realizing it, Kento's simple word had cracked open the wall around Gaara's heart, a wall he had built up over many years.

Gaara's father had never liked him, only seeing him as a tool to be molded into a weapon.

His siblings resented him for being a Jinchūriki, and his uncle, the one person he had trusted, had betrayed him by trying to kill him—claiming that Gaara's birth had caused his mother's death.

These experiences had left Gaara's heart sealed off from the world.

For most Jinchūriki, this kind of emotional trauma was common, each carrying some form of mental scars.

But Gaara's were particularly deep. The only thing that could heal such a wound was genuine emotion, something he had never experienced.

When they entered the Uchiha compound, Gaara observed the family dynamics. He saw how Sasuke's mother, Mikoto, loved Sasuke deeply.

His father, though strict, had eyes full of affection for his son. And Sasuke's brother, Itachi, followed Sasuke with a protective yet gentle demeanor.

Gaara watched all of this, and without realizing it, tears began to flow down his cheeks. This was something he had never experienced—an ordinary, loving family.

Sasuke introduced Gaara to his parents and brother, saying, "This is my new friend, Gaara, the Jinchūriki of the One-Tail from the Sand Village."

To Gaara's amazement, there wasn't even a hint of rejection in their eyes. The Uchiha clan, so feared and misunderstood by the rest of the village, welcomed him without a second thought.

Everything he had been taught about them—their supposed cruelty, cold-blooded nature, and brutality—seemed like lies in comparison to what he was witnessing.

The tears continued to fall as he stood there. Mikoto noticed his distress and asked softly, "What's wrong, dear?"

She stepped forward and gently took Gaara's hand. At first, he instinctively resisted, but after a moment, he let her hold it. Mikoto looked down at his scarred hands and felt a pang of sorrow.

She pulled Gaara into a tender embrace and whispered, "You must have had a hard life in the Sand Village…"

Gaara didn't respond, but the tears soaked into Mikoto's clothes. He clung to her, almost like a thief, greedily absorbing the warmth and affection that was never meant for him but for Sasuke. In a voice barely audible, Gaara murmured, "My mother didn't love me…"

This was the first time Gaara had ever spoken about his feelings to a stranger. Mikoto gently stroked his hair and said, "Don't think like that, dear. How could a mother not love her own child?"

Her words struck Gaara deeply, breaking down more of his emotional barriers. He looked up at her with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Is… is that really true?"

Mikoto smiled and nodded. "Of course, every child is unique, and every mother loves her child in her own way."

With those simple words, Gaara's psychological defenses began to crumble. He had never felt love before, especially not a mother's love.

But here, within the Uchiha compound, he was feeling it for the first time, even though it wasn't truly meant for him.

Inside his mind, Shukaku, the One-Tail, scoffed, "You fool, they're just pretending. You're my Jinchūriki, not theirs."

But Gaara replied quietly, "Even if it's fake, the love I feel right now is real enough for me."

During dinner, Gaara behaved unusually well.

The malevolence and coldness that once filled his eyes were replaced with confusion and a hint of warmth as he looked at the Uchiha family.

It was all so strange to him.

His own father, sister, and brother—his blood relatives—didn't love him, yet here he was, feeling kindness and love from people who were practically strangers.

Sasuke hadn't asked Gaara to join any organization or make any commitments. But Sasuke's goal had been achieved: he had broken through the layers of Gaara's emotional defenses.

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At the Hokage Building, it wasn't just the Genin from the Sand Village who had arrived for the Chunin Exams.

There were also participants from the Sound Village, Grass Village, Waterfall Village, and Rain Village.

In total, there were 87 Genin from Konoha, 30 from the Sand Village, 21 from the Rain Village, 6 from the Grass Village, 6 from the Waterfall Village, and 3 from the Sound Village.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, found this curious.

The Sound Village had only been established recently, so how did they already have Genin participating in the Chunin Exams? But since they were brought by the Sand Village, he decided not to question it further.

The written portion of the Chunin Exam had already passed, and next was the combat exam.

The Konoha examiners would judge whether the candidates were fit to become Chunin based on their performances.

The Konoha examiners included Morino Ibiki, Mitarashi Anko, Hayate Gekkō, Raido Namiashi, and Genma Shiranui.

Notably, Hayate, Raido, and Genma had once served as guards for the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and their strength was not to be underestimated.

The Chunin Exams were divided into three rounds:

The Forest of Death The Chunin Exam Preliminaries The Chunin Exam Finals

The examiners would carefully observe each contestant's abilities throughout the exams to determine if they were qualified to become Chunin.

Mitarashi Anko was the chief examiner for the Forest of Death, where the rules were simple. The 87 participants were divided into 29 groups, each receiving either a Heaven Scroll or an Earth Scroll.

The goal was to obtain the opposite scroll within five days, which meant only half of the teams would advance to the next round.

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