The first part of the exam passes quickly, all of them cheating on their tests in various different ways.
"What a waste of time," Temari says. Kankuro shrugs. "Well, if someone failed that they don't even deserve to be a genin." She continues.
"Boring," Kankuro agrees. "No one to fight." They both look at Gaara.
The second part of the exam looks more interesting though Temari is a bit scornful of the whole "Forest of Death" thing.
"Sounds like Gaara's idea of fun." Kankuro says. Not in his hearing, obviously. Temari sighs a breath of relief. Gaara's been more edgy than usual since the orange boy incident. More- well, excited is the only word to it. It's just strange. Both of them are waiting for Gaara to lose his patience, and strike. At least in this part of the exam he'll be allowed to. It's weird seeing Gaara being patient. Well, it's scary being around Gaara at all, but they're used to that.
They get an earth scroll and set off.
They don't met anyone else on the first day, which makes Gaara irritable. Temari and Kankuro are actively looking now for others, not just wandering. They'd rather not have Gaara turn on them.
So when on the second day, they meet a team of Amegakure genin, both of them are extremely relieved.
The Mist genin are going through the usual threatening rigmarole when Gaara attacks. He never cared about words much. So Temari and Kankuro have to join in, before they even know what type scroll they have.
They all manage to avoid the curling sand, somehow, the first time. They look slightly unnerved - probably about Gaara breaking the list script - but get over it quickly. The first one uses a jutsu to form multiple kunai into a literal rain of knives. Unfortunately for him, this is exactly the type of attack Temari likes, because it is so easy to dispel with her fan. Which she does. The second one is a bit more difficult to judge. He releases some sort of vapour using a multitude of hand seals, which isn't affected by Temari's wind jutsu. She guesses it's a sort of poison. She keeps an eye on it as it starts creeping towards them. A slow attack, but one that would be useful in an indirect fight, she supposes. Pity that's not the case at the moment.
Kankuro unwraps his puppet, prepares- But then it's not a battle at all, it's slaughter. Gaara breaks the legs of one of the genin and he collapses. The next one he fully encases in sand and implodes. The blood splatters on the trees. None of it touches Gaara, of course. Temari wipes off a large patch from her arm. Kankuro's speckled but he doesn't even bother. At least it's someone else's blood. The last genin is backing off, holding the scroll in front of him.
"Take it! Just let me go."
Temari notes happily that it's a heaven scroll.
Almost absentmindedly, Gaara is crushing the arms of the one with the broken legs. He's not even looking at him when he's doing it. Just watching the last one standing. Then the sand surges forwards, smashes him into a tree. His neck cracks back, breaks. Kankuro picks up the scroll carefully. Gaara turns back to the broken one, layers the sand on top of his face. He thrashes, trying to breathe, and it looks strange, the limbs shivering and broken.
Then there's a sound. It's half a gasp, half a shout.
Gaara smiles, finishes the genin. Walks towards the bushes, the running Konoha team. The sand snakes in front of him.
"Gaara," Temari says. "We've got both the scrolls."
Gaara ignores her completely.
"Come on!" Kankuro says. "We don't need them."
Gaara continues. He can hear the frightened shouts of the Konoha genins. He can almost taste their blood. The three before weren't enough. The demon wants more. He wants more. And Konoha is the allegiance of the… other one. It will be good practice.
Kankuro grabs Gaara by the shoulder.
"Control yourself!" he says. "Let them go."
The sand creeps up around Kankuro hand - the offending one, on his shoulder. Interestingly, Gaara notes, Kankuro doesn't let go.
"It's not worth it. Save your strength for later, we need to finish the exam for now." Both of them know what later is; the invasion.
"I'll kill you." Gaara says. Not do you want to die or you'll die. I'll kill you; direct and brutal. And in case Kankuro doesn't quite understand, he breaks one of his fingers with the sand.
"Fuck!" Kankuro shouts, his face pale for a second. "Can't you just listen to your older brother for once?"
The next finger breaks.
"I never considered you as my brother."
"Stop it, Kankuro." Temari says. "They're gone."
"Gladly." Kankuro spits out, cradling his injured hand against his chest.
Gaara's anger at being denied his prey just seems to increase.
"Look, Gaara." Temari says. She doesn't want Kankuro hurt any more. Though it was his own idiot fault. They both know Gaara well enough not to challenge him. "This is pointless. We have to appear as a team, even if you hate both of us, for the mission. Take it out on the orange boy later if you want, not us."
The way Gaara's eyes light up at the mention shows she's hit the right note.
They find the exit that evening, with no more problems.
The rest of the week is passes slowly, waiting for the other contestants to exit the forest.
"They're incompetent." Temari says.
"Maybe they've all died." Kankuro says.
"Save us the trouble."
"Killed by a giant spider."
Temari raises an eyebrow.
"Hey, it must be called the Forest of Death for a reason, and not just from the Chuunin exams!"
Temari's trying to figure out how she should combat the vapour-thing the Amegakure genin used, in retrospect. Wind didn't work. Maybe it had no defense except avoidance. Very useful then. Could a solid barrier like Gaara's sand stop it? The sand didn't seem affected by it at all. It must have to reach a human to affect them. Pity she couldn't experiment with it now.
"If they all die, someone's going to be annoyed." Temari says.
"Don't I know it," Kankuro says, waving his bandaged fingers at her.
"Why did you push him like that?" Temari asks. It's an honest question. She doesn't understand why - how - Kankuro dared.
He shrugs. Temari waits, starts cleaning her fan.
"Just wanted him to acknowledge us, I suppose."
"I'd rather stay under the radar, where Gaara's concerned."
"You would."
"Kankuro." She says and smiles, waves her fingers at him.
"Shut up."
They settle into a companionable silence. They're sitting outside in the sun, so they can watch the contestants emerging. And today, the orange boy's team is walking back. They look a lot worse for wear.
The girl's hair is cut short and ragged. They're all covered in scratches and dirt. The dark-haired boy keeps reaching up to his neck, touching- what, a tattoo? Both of them are limping a bit. The orange boy doesn't seem hurt at all, just a bit scruffy. Kankuro's a bit annoyed by this. Even he managed to trap the kid up before, yet here he is coming out of the Forest of Death entirely unharmed?
Well, perhaps Gaara will have fun after all.