KUNOICHI AND TANUKI
CHAPTER 4:
COMORBID CURIOSITY
It had been all too easy, Gaara reflected. True, the Chunin Exams would be daunting for the weak in mind and body, or at least those unprepared for it. The First Exam was, from an objective point of view, an interesting exercise in both intelligence gathering (in order to cheat to get the answers) and withstanding psychological intimidation. Gaara was resistant to the latter, but he had to admit, the proctor, Ibiki Morino, was a master. He had even been intimidated, albeit very slightly.
He had also taken the time to scout out the competition. He noted a number of genin teams from Konoha, the hosts, and while appallingly weak by his standards, many of them used a number of interesting methods to ace the test. He was intrigued to note that Sakura Haruno didn't appear to cheat at all, instead seeming to know the answers. He noted members of some of the more prominent clans in Konoha: two Hyuugas, an Aburame, an Inuzaka, an Akimichi, and someone he was sure was a Yamanaka. He also knew that the genin who had talked to Haruno's team, Kabuto Yakushi, was working with Orochimaru, the man who was allied with Suna for the upcoming invasion. He found it odd that Kabuto allowed the Oto genin to attack him with impunity, before deciding that the spy needed to maintain his cover.
The Second Exam was perhaps more interesting: a survival test in the ominously-titled Forest of Death where they needed to retrieve a matching scroll from another team, possibly in a battle to the death. He found the bloodlust radiating from the proctor, Anko Mitarashi, interesting, though he was baffled by that which came from the androgynous Kusa shinobi.
Even so, he found the Second Exam somewhat…tedious in reality. Partly because he had to deal with his siblings. Temari was tolerable, but Kankuro? And then, they soon encountered the Ame shinobi, who had tried to kill him. Tried being the operative term. Mother protected him, after all, and he enjoyed taking the weaponised umbrella from the Ame shinobi, shortly after taking their worthless lives with a couple of Sand Burials.
And then, Kankuro had to spoil his fun by telling him that they needed to go along swiftly, now that they had the scrolls needed. Damnable fool thought more about how well he'd do in the Chunin Exams than Gaara's desires. He had sneered back at Kankuro and Temari that he never thought of them as his siblings. Which wasn't, strictly speaking, true. He had some small regard for Temari, and he wouldn't kill her if he could help it. Eventually, Gaara decided to accede to his older brother's whining.
He knew that a trio of Konoha genin had been hiding nearby. And judging by the fact that they arrived not long after he did at the Tower in the middle of the Forest of Death, it was the one with the Hyuuga girl, the Inuzaka boy, and the Aburame boy. When he encountered them next in the Tower, he gave them the slightest of predatory smiles, letting them know that their escape was a lucky one.
He spent most of his time away from his siblings, having all but moved into the arena in which they would do battle. He perched himself on top of the massive sculpture of a pair of hands making a handsign. Here, he could keep calm, away from the wittering voices of others. That way, he felt less of a desire to kill them. He left only to partake of meals.
He knew that his rapid arrival, in less than two hours, to the Tower had made a lot of people curious, and worried. Let them be. They would soon know the full extent of his power.
On the fourth day, he heard the echoing footsteps of someone entering. He looked down, to find the Sakura girl entering. She had entered the Tower with her team yesterday. Rumours had spread in the mess that they had encountered Orochimaru and survived, along with the belligerent Oto genin. Indeed, a rumour Temari had heard was that Sakura had managed to fell Orochimaru, albeit temporarily, with a brand new jutsu.
This intrigued him. And then, he saw that she had noticed him. A little nervously, she waved to him. "Hi."
Gaara nodded in a gesture of token acknowledgement. He moved down to her in a sand Shunshin, savouring the startled look on her face. "Why are you here?"
"I needed somewhere quiet to think," Sakura admitted. "We've been through a lot in that Forest. My friends got hurt. Well, a friend and a comrade, anyway." This last seemed to be added as an afterthought. It seemed that Sakura's team was not so united. "How did you do?"
"I believe the colloquial term is, I 'aced' it," Gaara said, a faint smirk playing about his features. "None can stand my sand."
"Ah." Sakura pursed her lips at that. "I…hope it was quick for whoever you killed."
"Quicker than they deserved. They were Ame, not Konoha, if that concerns you," Gaara said. It clearly didn't console her.
After a moment, Sakura seemed to want to say something, before she eventually said, "Gaara…I don't want to offend you, so you don't have to answer. But…when you killed your uncle…do you have nightmares of that time?"
Gaara's eyes narrowed. Why was she asking this?
Unbidden, she continued, as if his thoughts had been an audible question. "Not so long ago, we went on a mission. One of our enemies…he was the kindest and sweetest boy, made into a weapon by a brutal, powerful shinobi."
"Zabuza Momochi," Gaara said. On her surprised look, Gaara said, "My sensei gave me some information on your team. He must've been formidable, if he was Zabuza's 'weapon'."
"Yes. He had a bloodline limit. And yet, I know there was something good in him. But…he died, saving Zabuza's life. And I've had nightmares about it ever since, because I know I could've saved him. He was trying to kill us at the time, or rather, stop us from protecting the person we were hired to, and yet…" Sakura shook her head. "Sorry, I shouldn't have tried burdening you with my problems."
Gaara surprised himself with the next sentence that came from his lips. "It's fine." Eventually, he added, "I am surprised you would empathise with an enemy shinobi."
"The boy I'm talking about, Haku, had a bad life," Sakura said. "He had a bloodline limit, as I said, and you can guess, as he came from Kiri, what he had to go through."
"The Bloodline Purges," Gaara said.
"Yes." She looked at him in a curious manner. "You know, with what you told me of your uncle…he was nearly murdered by his father. He had to kill him instead. All because of something he couldn't control."
The words struck a chord in him. Shukaku began growling deep within him. And he tried to stamp down on the feelings of empathy, of a connection. Eventually, he asked, "Why do you care?"
"It shouldn't happen to anyone. That's all I'm saying," Sakura said sadly. "Sorry, what you said has been on my mind. I shouldn't have spoken. I just…needed someone to talk to."
"I would say that I'm a poor choice in a conversation partner," Gaara remarked dryly. Even Shukaku, despite the beast's growing annoyance, actually chuckled at that one.
Sakura smiled, albeit a little warily. "Sorry to bother you, Gaara. I'll let you get back to your…meditation?"
Sure, let's go with that, Gaara thought as he nodded. He used another sand Shunshin to go back to the top of the sculpture. The dismissal clear, Sakura left the room. And with that, a small part of him hoped that he would not have to fight her. He felt that otherwise, he might actually feel some small regret for killing her…
As Sakura left the arena area, a little disconcerted by her encounter with Gaara, a sardonic voice remarked, "He must like you, you know. Or at least tolerate you better than most."
Sakura nearly jumped, and turned to find Temari standing there, her arms crossed. "Why is that?"
"Well, he didn't attack you for one thing, or threaten to kill you," Temari said. "I followed you here because I wondered if I'd have to intervene. I can't stop my brother once he loses his temper, but I could get you out of there."
"Is there something wrong with him? I mean, aside from his uncle nearly killing him?"
"How did you…oh, he must've told you. Look, Sakura, was it? I suggest not trying to make friends with Gaara. Don't get me wrong, if things were different, he'd need all the friends he can get. But…he doesn't believe in friends anymore. He barely tolerates his family."
"Given that his uncle tried to kill him, I have to wonder."
Temari's dark eyes narrowed. "Listen, Sakura, you know little of what happened. I don't like it any more than you do, because it tore my little brother away from me. He barely stands me, and I know I'm the person he likes the most." Her eyes became suspiciously shiny, even as she scowled. "I love my little brother, Sakura. More than that make-up wearing idiot. And frankly, more than my father. But Gaara…he can't love me back. All the love's been squeezed out of him. And I hate that. I hate what he was made into. And while you're as soft as many Konoha shinobi are, I can't fault you showing some compassion for him. If there was any hope of reaching him, I'd actually tell you to keep going. But there isn't. Gaara's a living weapon."
"So was someone I met not long ago," Sakura said, thinking back to Haku, drooling blood as he was impaled on Kakashi's Raikiri. "Made by Zabuza Momochi into a living weapon, because he had nothing else left for him."
"Sakura, this is reality. There are going to be people out there like that." Temari sighed. "Look…if he wants to talk to you more…if I turn out to be wrong…well, go ahead and be friends with him. God knows he needs them. But remember that he is rarely far away from snapping and killing people around him." Temari then got a cheeky smirk. "Hey, there's a thought. Maybe once this part of the Chunin Exams are over, I can ask the Hokage if I can hire you for an S-Rank mission: dating my little brother."
"S-Rank?!" Sakura all but yelped. "Dating him?"
"Yeah, might do him some good." Temari laughed, sounding like Naruto after pulling a particularly spectacular prank, though for some reason, Sakura thought that, while Temari was clearly having a joke, she was actually serious about the whole dating thing.
There was only one thing to say to that. "Troublesome," Sakura muttered.
Elsewhere in the Tower, Shikamaru sneezed, then muttered, "Troublesome."
As she walked through the corridors of the Tower, Sakura got to thinking about the past couple of days. First, they had encountered Orochimaru, who had used some sort of seal on Naruto, and then bit Sasuke and gave him the Cursed Seal of Heaven (Sakura remembering Anko talking about her own). Orochimaru had given her the scroll they needed, as a reward for managing to surprise him with her Hikariton, something she still had trouble believing. Then, she and Naruto had to face off against the Oto genin, only for Sasuke, drawing power from the Cursed Seal, to maim one of them. Sakura had just managed to calm him down, and Team 10 had gone with them to the Tower (having opted to take the one the Oto team left behind as compensation), while Team 9 went to find another scroll. They reached here in good time, but Sasuke was even now still drifting away, she was sure of it.
At least by this point, they no longer had to fight as a team. From what she had discussed with the proctors and jounin senseis, in all likelihood, there'd be too many genin who had passed this Second Exam, and there'd be a set of preliminaries, a series of elimination matches to whittle down the number of people who went into the Finals. Even so, the revelation that Orochimaru was involved was startling enough. Sakura had thought herself out of her depth before she even agreed to enter the Chunin Exams, but Orochimaru being involved and attacking Naruto and Sasuke…
No. She had to focus on the important things. She had told Kakashi and the Hokage about what happened, about Orochimaru. They'd be best-qualified for trying to deal with the criminal Sannin. Now she had to pass the Chunin Exams…if she could.
CHAPTER 4 ANNOTATIONS NO JUTSU!:
Okay, pretty big timeskip, more than I intended, but I thought doing the majority of the Chunin Exams from Gaara's point of view would have been boring. And sorry about the wait. Hope you liked the interactions between Gaara and Sakura, and Temari and Sakura.
No numbered annotations this time.