All right, I'll admit he wasn't the best looking guy ever. Okay, and he wasn't really Miss Manners. And he definitely wasn't the luckiest guy around. But he was my brother. Yeah, I'll admit it now, after almost a year of denying that I ever had anything to do with the sad little fuck.
How could Chiyo ever say that thing could stand in for my brother? The one good thing about the poor boy being like he was… is that I thought I'd never have to see that wretched thing again. Looks like I was wrong.
Father. I can't believe you, father. See what your stupid plan has gotten you? Mother and Uncle are dead, your oldest son is nothing but a soulless husk for God's sake, and you know all about your youngest. And I'm stuck here, cleaning up after you!
But really. What did you think I was going to do? Blame myself and insist I could have done something to stop the inevitable? Sob uncontrollably into a tissue and wail the poor idiot's petname? No! I'm stronger than that. I've killed people before. And I know I'm a better all-around ninja than both of my brothers.
Yes, both. Gaara may be able to manipulate sand and blah, blah, blah. But I actually have the skills! Taijutsu, which neither of them could do at all, genjutsu, especially dispelling it, and of course, ninjutsu, one of my greatest strengths.
You know, the poor boy once came home from a solo mission bawling his eyes out because someone sent him to kill a child? What happened to all of the psychological training we undertook for missions like that? Honestly, he's almost as bad as... Oh wait, I forgot. We're still in the Chunin exams part of the story. I can't talk about those guys yet.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes.
The Chunin exams were a joke, a waste of time, and the only time in a year I found myself actually able to have a conversation with my brother. Not Gaara, of course.
Yeah, I talked to the puppet, okay? Maybe… I'm not admitting to anything, but maybe… it wasn't that horrible to feel like I had him back… Just for a moment, at least, when I looked at him. I remember that stupid look on his face-That cocky grin he always seemed to have on, one eye closed, one open… It was… what can I say?
It was nostalgic.
Yes, for the first three days, it was okay again. And then we found out why we were really there.
And everything went to hell.