A year had already past and it was time for the finals of the chunin exams. All of Team 6 of course made it through. Takeshi had as well. The battles would be:

Haruno Takeshi vs. Oro Hibiko

Hyuuga Hideo vs. Mei Amami

Yamanaka Shinya vs. Ming Arata

Haruno Aiko vs. Nara Yuri

Gaara was present to the exams. It was required for all Kages to attend the exams. He had been vaguely searching for a mop of pink hair since he arrived and he finally found her. She seemed extremely interested in the battle that was about to begin.

"Haruno Takeshi and Oro Hibiko, come to the center field immediately!"

Haruno? Maybe her nephew or something. Gaara kept close focus on the boy. He couldn't see very well since it was so far away but he tried.

"Hi, I'm Hibiko! Nice to meet you!" Hibiko stretched out his hand to Takeshi.

Takeshi stared at the hand and took it eventually. "Takeshi."

The bell rang and Takeshi jumped high and far into a tree at the edge of the stadium.

Hibiko made a few hand signs but they proved ineffective when Takeshi walked out unhurt. He wore a triumphant smirk and began to attack.

"Seven Seas of Ice Jutsu!" Waves of water came crashing down on the other ninja and it suddenly became cold. Extremely cold. The water immediately, leaving Hibiko in a thin sheet of ice.

So that's what he's been working on! Sakura thought approvingly. She was standing beside Tsunade.

Takeshi broke the ice and it vanished. Hibiko was knocked out on the spot.

"Winner: Haruno Takeshi!"

Takeshi raised his fist to the audience in triumphant and they cheered for him. Sakura was going crazy in the stands with Tsunade.

"He won! Kami, Tsunade-sama! He won!"

Tsunade nodded approvingly.

Next was Hideo.

"Hyuuga Hideo and Mei Amami…"

Hideo wondered why the girl was even in this far. The only thing she had going for her were her looks. She tried to surprise him with a kiss but he deflected her efforts and defeated her with ease.

"Winner: Hyuuga Hideo!"

Hideo went to the entrance from where he came from and was practically tackled by his team mates. His parents were standing to the side giving him looks of approval and pride.

"Good job, Hyuuga." Sasuke grunted approvingly.

Hideo smirked, "Good luck, Shinya!" He turned to Aiko, "Don't forget the pact! Okay, pretty eyes?"

He hadn't called her that since they were five… Aiko hugged him again, "Really, you did very well, Hideo! And I won't!"

"Yamanaka Shinya vs. Ming Arata…"

Sakura's emerald eyes sparked. Ino mentioned to her that Deidara was most likely going to be in the crowd, hidden. She didn't even know Deidara knew about Shinya but he had a trait that's kind of hard to come by. Shinya had both the Mind Transfer Jutsu and hands that spit out explosive clay…

Watching Shinya's battle filled Ino with pride. He used his explosive clay to its fullest and ended the battle with a bang! Somewhere in the stadium, Deidara was cheering his son on too.

Last was Aiko…

"The final battle: Haruno Aiko vs Nara Yuri"

Gaara was astonished at Aiko. She had red hair just like him but with a white stripe in front. Was that natural? She looked like him…

The bell rang and the battle began. Yuri was straight forward and came at her from every angle he could but no matter what angle he came from, he never touched her once. She smiled a sickly sweet smile when he gave up and moved back. No one knew how strong she really was.

He surveyed the area for shadows and smirked. He made a few hand signs and almost had her. Aiko jumped up and kicked him hard, throwing multiple shuriken and kunai his way. He managed to dodge most of them. She placed her feet on the ground again, unmoving. Aiko was waiting for Yuri to do his shadow jutsu.

"Sand Coffin!" She yelled right before she was overcome by his shadow.

Sand came from all sides, almost engulfing Yuri.

"If it's suffocating me, it's suffocating you!" He pointed out trying to breathe.

"That's right but I can stand it! Now release me before my sand kills us both!" Aiko replied not looking hurt at all.

Yuri didn't want to but his need for air was growing quickly. He finally released the shadow jutsu almost falling to the ground.

"Cool trick, is that something you learned in Pre-K, freak?"

Gaara heard this from his nephew and it stung. He scowled.

Aiko scowled and moved towards him.

"Why can't I move?" He yelled trashing around frantically.

"Look down." Aiko said only centimeters away from his face.

Yuri was caught off guard though; she was gorgeous in her own way. Yuri looked down and saw sand covering his feet. He looked back up and was met by her fist to his face. The sand let go and he fell to the ground unconscious.

"That's something I learned at four." Aiko muttered towards him with a smirk.

"Winner: Haruno Aiko!"

Everyone cheered. Takeshi ran out to the field and tackled his sister to the ground.

"We're chunin, Aiko! Can you believe it?" Takeshi laughed.

Aiko's team mates followed after Takeshi. They stood in the middle of the arena holding hands and shouting in victory. The crowd was still cheering. Sakura had to resist the urge to jump down there with them.

"They're chunin, next thing you know, they'll be ANBU…" Sakura said to Tsunade.

"Sakura," a husky voice called to her from behind.

Sakura jumped. Oh dear Kami, not now.

Gaara was a few feet behind her. His heart began to oddly pound.

"Kazekage-sama. It's nice to see you. If you don't mind, I need to congratulate my ex-teammate, his students and Takeshi for the victory…" Sakura took the plunge which meant any way out of there.

"Excuse me, Godaime!" Sakura muttered jumping down to the center hugging the new chunin.

Gaara didn't like the name she referred to him as. Who could blame him? They hadn't spoken in thirteen years.

Gaara frowned, "Whose kids are those, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade frowned, "Sakura took them in eight months after she left Sasuke at the altar. Other than that, it's none of your business, Kazekage-sama."

Gaara suddenly felt his stomach drop. She didn't marry him after all…