Ch.2 Flight
Baki lead the group through the desert, thankful that the children hadn't fully grasped the desperation of their situation because if they were to survive they would need to put all their efforts into that and not despairing. Chiyo was a different story; she hadn't spoken since the flight from the bunker and Ebizo's last stand. He knew given time she would pull herself out of her despair and throw every last bit of energy she had into keeping the children alive. For now she trudged on, leaning on Temari for support.
Suddenly Baki threw out his hand and the whole party stopped, looking around for what he had seen. Then a giant yellow toad burst from a sand dune to their left, on his back stood a man with spiky white hair. After the toad landed, the man jumped down and held up his hands, making no move to attack them.
"You must be a capable ninja to of noticed me. I am Jiraiya the toad sage of Konohagakure." the toad man told Baki.
Flight
"Noticing you was simple enough as toads do not belong in the desert." replied Baki. At that a loud rumble came from the giant toad, as it glared at its passenger.
"Don't start complaining again Gamakie it's just a little sand" snapped Jiraiya, "But I have a proposal that you might want to hear if you wish the children to survive long enough to become ninja."
Baki took a long, hard look at Jiraiya trying to detect any dishonesty in the man, before replying "and what is this offer of yours?"
"If you and the elder here are both willing to join Konoha and help the village to the best of your abilities we will take you all in as members of the village and the children will receive training to become Konoha ninja."
Baki considered his options, and they were few, the children wouldn't survive long if the new Kazekage tried to hunt them down, which he almost certainly would, and this deal might be their only chance for survival. He turned to Chiyo but he was already sure he wouldn't let his charges die and he didn't expect even her pride to prevent her from ensuring the same thing. His thoughts must have showed on his face because she only nodded glumly.
"We will go to Konoha and discuss this deal with your Kage." Baki declared.
"Very good," Jiraiya beamed with genuine pleasure, "then my toads will speed our journey." With that he summoned more toads, they boarded, and were off.
_
Gaara stood at the front of a class in the Konoha ninja academy along with his siblings as Iruka-sensei introduced them to the class. He looked scared and Baki watching the proceedings through the window hoped for the hundredth time that his idea worked. This was the first contribution other than unverifiable intel that he was making to Konoha and if it didn't work the council would be even more likely to turn them over to the new Suna government if it demanded it.
This idea had occurred to him on discovering that so many prominent Konoha clans had promising children in the academy. The plan was based off a combination of Konoha and Suna squad designs. The teams would begin training as teams strait away and each team would have a focus as well as general training, then by combining teams they could have perfect teams for each mission.
The only snag was they had to push three children of an even younger age up into the teams as well to fill the required six teams. Baki would personally train the ranged support team; its members were Temari, Neji Hyuga, and Tenten. While the five other teams were to be trained by Konoha special Jonin who Baki had already met and they all seemed capable, if odd. The teams would be strength, assassination (Kankuro's team), tracking, espionage (Gaara's team), defense, as well as his own ranged support team. He watched as the siblings took seats to wait for their team assignments, teams that would become their families in the years to come.