Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto. This is written for the March 2016 Just Write It challenge over on Wattpad. The theme for this challenge was sports, so I choose the chunin exams, particularly since the idea that everybody earned chunin at the same time two years later bothered me, as did Naruto going off to train for a long period of time like he did. This particular fic is going to require quite a few OCs to fill in certain gaps. Credit also goes to my brother for helping me develop the twins and their abilities. Not only do they drive me up the wall, but somehow we managed to add in yet another subplot.

The Chunins, Again...
Proving Oneself

"I want to take the chunin exams again."

One could say the day started off normal enough, with Baki waking up at the crack of dawn, but from there on out things ended up very different. The Suna jonin would find himself heading to the training field where he would meet his students, and also expect Gaara to be typically missing, off doing whatever the twelve year old wanted to do. Normal activities for the Kazekage's youngest included watching the clouds role by, avoiding everybody he possibly could, or outright terrorizing the rest of the village with his mere presence.

If Gaara showed up, the young shinobi would instead terrorize his siblings simply by being their, with Kankuro rather lucky that he wore the makeup he did, as he'd seen the young man's reaction without the paint – a sickly green color that made even Baki feel nauseated. Temari on the other hand would be nervously trying to interfere between her two brothers, and one of the things discussed between their sensei and the Kazekage was the fact Temari seemed to have an effect on Gaara, where as others did not.

Most of the time they were lucky, and training went off without any hitches outside of Kankuro's inability to not goof off. This proceeded into any battle they went into, addled by Temari's ability to look down on her opponents skills, as the young shinobi really should have taken the chunin exam earlier, rather then waiting for Gaara to graduate. Nobody though wished to team up with the red haired shinobi, the fear of being killed for the young genin far outweighing the prestige from being teamed up with one of the Kazekage's children – not that anyone else could really deal with the three.

Then there were council meetings, and the Lord Kazekage complaining about what Gaara had or hadn't done – the man honestly couldn't make up his mind what he wanted from his youngest, but Baki really couldn't blame the man. Gaara listened to no one, and Baki found himself the constant sounding board for the Kazekage's anxieties, but also getting to see as side of Rasa even his children didn't know about, one that Baki preferred to not acknowledged existed, as this side went against the stern, firm Kazekage everyone knew Rasa to be.

The end of the conversations should have been a clue something was off, but Baki quickly explained the end of Rasa's rants as the man finally finding a use for his preteen son.

Now his days were different, as things had changed in Suna, and for the three siblings since the chunin exams, not to mention the death of the Lord Kazekage. Rasa's death left three orphans, one of which Suna wished nothing to do with, but two others whose needs still needed to be met. Baki was assigned to oversee their care – that of Kankuro and Temari – but to also keep Gaara in line to the best of his ability, something which turned out to be a mute point, as the boy's personality did a complete u-turn seemingly.

In the mornings he made his way over to the Lord Kazekage's house, knocking on the door so that one of the siblings would be forced to answer the door. At first the person answering ended up being Temari, but Gaara soon took on the task, the young shinobi typically struggling to sleep, yet also looking forward to Baki's arrivals in the morning, signaling the fact Gaara had allowed his sensei in. He would proceed to make sure the siblings were eating, proceed to training, make sure they eat their other meals, and pretty much seeing to their other needs.

One of those needs ended up being Gaara's emotional needs. Kankuro and Temari showed no sorrow regarding the passing of their father like everyone expected, and instead all of the emotional turmoil fell on the twelve year old genin who didn't understand what he was thinking. Thus Baki found himself sitting up on the roof of the house with the young shinobi when they weren't training, eating or on a mission, and the two would watch the clouds in the sky pass on by, and if Gaara thought of something he didn't understand, or wanted to talk about, he would talk. Keeping track of the [jinruchi] turned out to be an easy task.

It was one of these times that Gaara said what he did. "I want to take the chunin exams again."

Baki thought about what Gaara said carefully, not quite sure where the boy was going. The older shinobi folded his arms across his chest. "Well, I guess we can start prepping you and your siblings for the next chunin exams. I'm quite sure..."

"I don't want to do it with Kankuro and Temari's help."

The jonin sensei turned his head to look at the young shinobi, but found no trace of emotion on the boy's face, years of emotional abuse having taught Gaara not to show his emotions. Baki learned that for Gaara not showing emotions didn't mean they weren't there. "Gaara, you do understand that you've got to go through the chunin exams as a team of three."

"I understand. I still want to do it without their help." Gaara turned his head as Baki took a deep breath, and the young shinobi's seafoam green eyes widened. "You don't think I can do it?"

Baki allowed himself to show a bit of emotion, the corners of his mouth softening into a frown. "I don't think this is an issue of you not being able to do it. This is an issue of whether any of the other genin would be willing to help you. You do understand why that is?"

"I understand. That's why I have to do this."

Baki looked back up at the clouds, wondering how to present this information to the council, let alone explaining to Temari and Kankuro their younger brother's train of thought. "I honestly agree with you, and I'll do my best to help you out. I can't make any promises though, and you need to understand that there may be some people who will do anything they can to see that you fail.