Grr. Watching the anime just a little further, it says that the Sand siblings finished in just like an hour... screw it. THINGS CHANGED BECAUSE OF FUMIKO GAHH and so they finished in three days, blah. Everything changes but I. Don't. Care. It's still freaking amazing that he made it without a scratch, so there!
...
Fumiko walked beside Gaara. Temari and Kankurou stayed just behind them, probably to keep an eye on Gaara in case he lost it. Fumiko knew that for now Shukaku had quieted down, but she also knew that for once, Gaara had stopped in the middle rather than continue until the demon was satisfied. So it might be a problem later- but for now, the only two problems were that Gaara wasn't saying anything, and that another plant had tried to eat her.
They were literally just a yard or so away from the tower. Fumiko could see it through the trees. Behind them, Kankurou and Temari had probably already finished the fish she had given them. Gaara had eaten his in just a few bites, only eating it because Fumiko had asked him to. Otherwise, he absolutely refused to look at her, opting instead to just stare at his destination.
When they made it to the tower, it was, of course, locked. Gaara blasted the door in with his sand.
The place was empty and kind of gave Fumiko the creeps. It was eerily quiet, and their footsteps echoed throughout the entire building. The walls were made of aged, cracking stone, and there were no artificial lights. It was dark, cold, and gloomy, and she was half expecting a ghost to jump out at them and scream BOO! Fumiko just pulled her Suna cape tighter around her shoulders.
They looked on every floor to see if there was some hidden room they were supposed to find. Normally, Fumiko would have left by now, waiting for them to be recognized for passing before rejoining them to leave. But she got the feeling that Gaara needed to say something, and besides, two days on her own was long enough, thank you.
"Kankurou, do you think we have to wait until the five days is over?" she asked. "'Cause this whole searching thing could just be useless."
"I hope not," he grumbled. "Temari, do you think we should split up and keep looking just in case?"
Fumiko looked back, smiling at Temari. The girl seemed to just want to calm down for a minute, and being near Gaara probably wasn't helping. Temari was smirking, but Temari was always smirking, and Fumiko was good at reading eyes. Temari nodded quickly in agreement.
"Sure," she said. "Fumiko, can you and Gaara check upstairs?"
"Yeah," Fumiko replied cheerfully. "Meet back up by the benches when the moon comes up?"
They nodded, and Kankurou and Temari made their way back down the stairs. The tower was actually a lot bigger than it looked, but the most comfortable looking place was the one she had just agreed to meet in- the large room with hard wood benches. Right away, Fumiko took Gaara by the wrist and marched him back down the hall and to a bench.
She sat down with a genuinely happy sigh. After two and a half days danger and danger and running, it was nice to finally be back with the one person who could protect her, in a locked place that basically meant Game over, you don't have to try and kill me anymore. She could finally sit down and relax, but Gaara couldn't. Fumiko waited for him to sit hesitantly down next to her.
Then she waited for him to speak. There was no rush- Fumiko knew that there was no hidden room, and if there was, she wasn't going to find it.
It was probably another ten minutes before he did open his mouth, during which Fumiko repainted her nails and took out her second bottle of sugar to snack on. She left her fish in her satchel- if Fumiko really did have to wait a full two more days before the test was over, she needed to save her food.
"Fumiko... I tried."
"Uh-huh," she said with a smile. Not a grin- Fumiko's grins were still being pulled down by the memory of a field drowning in blood. It wasn't Gaara's fault, but god, Fumiko hated blood and the smell of it. "I know."
"No," Gaara insisted. "I can't control him."
"Yes you can, Gaara."
"No! I killed three people... almost six. I didn't even..."
"You tried, Gaara." Fumiko said. "That's what counts. It's bitter that they died, but there's nothing you can do about it now, and it's not your fault anyway."
"I could have stopped!"
"You could have," Fumiko agreed. "But you didn't."
This seemed to take all the air out of him. He slumped just a little bit, but Gaara was always posture-perfect, controlled, and deadly, so that was a big thing. Now he just looked a little bit tired and a little bit angry and just a little bit frightened. There was no one else around, and Fumiko knew that had Kankurou or Temari been there, he would still be the stiff, glaring jinchuriki he was so known for being.
"Look," Fumiko said. "I'm sure there was a reason you didn't stop, besides the obvious thing. You always have a reason, Gaara. I'm just glad I got there when I did." she paused. "Like I said before, you agreed that if something went wrong, I could find you."
"'Wrong,'" he scoffed. "The things I do are evil. Fumiko, I don't believe you don't hate me."
Fumiko laughed. "Well, sugar, Gaara. What else don't you believe? I bet you think ninjas don't know how to fight, or, ooh, your sand never protects you! Gaara, we have this conversation over and over."
She put her hand on his, sitting on the bench between them. His skin was just this side of cool, as it always was. Hers was probably really warm, as Gaara always told her it was. Fumiko's happy tone softened just a little bit, and her smile grew a little less happy-go-lucky and a little more truthful.
"Gaara," she said when he didn't answer. "See this?" She banged her prosthetic on the concrete. The thud echoed and the springs made an odd squeaking sound. "This wasn't really your fault either. Totally out of your control. But do you want to know something cool?"
"Hn." he grunted.
"I like it. I mean, can you imagine Mitsuwa Fumiko, a jinchuriki's best friend, painter slash baker slash motivational speaker, with two actual feet?" she laughed again. "Nah, Gaara. I know it's not the same thing, blowing off a leg and killing someone, but you get my point."
His head leaned back until it was hanging backwards off the edge of the bench. Being upside-down always seemed to comfort him, whether it was just his head or his whole body. Gaara stared at the ceiling.
Fumiko held out her bottle to him. "Hey, Gaara, do you want some sugar?"
...
Fumiko still didn't hate him. After everything, she still wasn't scared like she should have been, and she still stuck around. Half of him wished she didn't, for her own sake, but then the other half viciously snapped until that other side of him shut up.
Fumiko offering him sugar like that, a smile on her face, that wasn't a pointless gesture. Even if Fumiko herself didn't realize it, that kind of offer was a total trust move. She wouldn't do it if she hated him, and she wouldn't do it if she was scared of him. Gaara almost wanted to tell her how close he'd come, how close Shukaku had come, to crushing her into nothing.
But he didn't.
Instead he just lifted his head and held out his hand. Fumiko poured sugar into his palm, and Gaara tilted his head back and dropped it into his mouth. It was too sweet, way too sweet, but at the moment nothing else would have satisfied him. Fumiko laughed and poured sugar directly into her mouth.
...
Fumiko told Gaara about everything that had happened during the test on her end. She recounted first slipping into the trees, Anko letting her go, and climbing up to pinpoint the tower. Then she described the long trip, then the encounter with the Sound ninja who had tried and failed to catch her, followed by a long chase. Fumiko told the story of fishing and trying unsuccessfully to carve a rod.
"But you're an artist," he said.
"Yeah, well, artists don't catch fish, they paint them."
His face went a little bit uneasy when she told him in detail about hunger and running straight on for two days, and falling almost into the river. But then it warmed with that small, amused smile of his when she used erratic hand gestures to describe the fish hitting her and her accidentally using Genjutsu on a fish. She touched upon owls and dancing embers, and painting on a tree, running again, and then closed up with, "-and that's when I found you."
By the time she finished her tale, the moon was up. It wasn't dark yet, the moon and the sun were both up, but it was turning into twilight fast. Fumiko wondered where Kankurou and Temari were.
"Hah," he said. "Your story was a lot more interesting than mine... you know, starving to death counts as something going wrong."
"Nah," she said back. "I had sugar. So what happened to you?"
"We didn't run into anybody on the way," he said. "It was easy, and Kankurou used his Puppetry to get food. I didn't move as quickly as I could have. It was nice. And then... well, you know. Then you found us."
"And you guys passed!" Fumiko exclaimed. Then paused. "Or, not yet, I guess... but almost!"
"Almost," he repeated.
"Gaara, do you sense Kankurou and Temari? They should be here by now."
"Yes. They're about three floors down. I don't know what they're doing. Not fighting. Or looking for anything."
"We should get them," Fumiko said. "Strength in numbers and all that sweetness. Besides, what if someone official shows up and thinks the full team didn't make it? That would stink. You wanna, Gaara?"
"Sure."
...
Fumiko jumped down the stairs two at a time on one foot just to see if she could, and about halfway down, realized she couldn't. But that was okay, because Gaara's sand caught her before she could hit the ground. After that, she was laughing so hard that Gaara just left her on the cloud of sand because she couldn't stand up straight. It floated along just in front of Gaara, and Fumiko was loving every second of it.
Fumiko sat with her knees tucked under her, hands keeping her balanced. The sand shifted but stayed mostly solid. Her arms were weak from laughter as she peeked over the edge to see the stairs underneath her cloud, and even Gaara was fighting back a smile. He spun the platform slowly in a circle, which just made Fumiko's already hysterical laughter increase.
When they finally found Kankurou and Temari, you could say they were a little surprised. Kankurou just stared at the joyful girl on the floating ball of sand, and the stoic boy who didn't seem to care either way (but did.) Temari was a little less obvious about it- she just smirked and looked away with a sigh, but her eyes darted back to look the second eyes were off her.
"Hey!" Fumiko said, giggling. "We came looking for you, but I fell d-down the s-s-stairs!"
The sand lowered until she was kneeling on the ground, then dispersed from around her. It drained back into the gourd on Gaara's back. Still hiccupping quietly, Fumiko stumbled back up to her feet. "Ha ha ha. What were you guys doing down here?"
"Nothing important," Kankurou said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Did you find a room?"
"No," Fumiko said. She managed to kill her giggling, but she had found her grin again. "I don't think that's what we're supposed to do. Why don't we head back up to the bench room and think of something else?"
"Yeah," Temari said.
"Okay! Gaara, I'll walk this time," she said. "No jumping."
...
"No one's here," Hinata said nervously.
"Ha ha! We're the first." Kiba said smugly.
"No. I'm sure that I sensed somebody here a little while ago." Shino muttered.
The three had arrived at the tower just minutes before, but when they found nobody else there, they had just gone straight to what looked like the main room to try and figure out how they passed. Akamaru was still tucked into Kiba's jacket, and although he was no longer shaking, he was still spooked.
"More importantly, is Akamaru okay?" Hinata said, stroking the dog's nose. "The poor little guy's been so scared for so long."
"Come to think of it," Shino asked, "What did Akamaru say before?"
Kiba looked at him with a serious expression on his face. "Well, I guess he must have been saying that that bigger ninja was in trouble because that little pipsqueak was gonna kill him."
"Just like I thought." A familiar, cocky voice said from somewhere down the hall. The same voice that had warned against and tried to protect them from said dangerous pipsqueak. The three of them flinched and turned towards the voice. "There's nowhere else for us to go!"
"We've already waited half a day." Another, female, voice snarked. "How much longer are they gonna make us wait?"
The first one that turned into the room was the pipsqueak freak himself. Now, the three got a better look at him: short red hair, an unexplained kanji on his forehead, and the terrifying gourd on his back. Hot on his tail was a smiling girl with long brown hair, brown eyes, with what looked- and to Kiba, smelled- like acrylic paint smeared on her hands.
Following them were the other two Sand Siblings, but the team only had eyes for the boy who had almost killed them and the girl they now recognized to be the same one from before; the one who had saved their lives.
The one with the purple face paint and a smirk glanced up at them when he noticed their presence. The team couldn't do anything but stand frozen as the Sand Siblings and the girl passed them by. The girl noticed them with a small oh sound, then waved at them, grinning.
"Hi," she said.
The kid with the red hair's pupiless eyes slid back to look at them as he passed. All three of them, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino, swallowed. Hinata sucked in a breath, but the ninja from Suna just continued on their way past without bothering them.
I don't know what that sand village squirt is, Kiba thought anxiously, But whatever he is, he's way too dangerous to mess with. He's bad news. And who was the girl with him? Kiba thought he recognized her scent from the briefing Anko had given them before. But what was she doing here? And why was she hanging out with the... whatever it was?
They continued on their way until they reached the staircase on the opposite side of the room, then disappeared up them.
...
"Oh! There's kanji here..." Fumiko muttered. Behind her, Gaara watched as Kankurou and Temari discussed what to do next. Every plan was half-hatched and half-hearted, because besides getting to the tower, they had no idea what else to do. "Let's see..."
As she read it, a laugh bubbled out from her lips. "Ne, Gaara?"
"What?"
"I know what you gotta do now. It says it all right here." Fumiko pointed up to the tapestry on the wall. Kankurou and Temari glanced over, and Temari jumped up. She made her way over, almost pushing Fumiko out of the way so that she could read it.
"'If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire more wisdom to take your mind higher. If earthen qualities are what you lack, then train your body and prepare to attack. When heaven and earth are opened together the perilous path will become righteous forever. This something is the secret way that guides us from this place today.'"
"So what does that mean?" Kankurou scoffed.
"It means we have to open the scrolls," Temari realized. "Good work, Fumiko."
Gaara rose, along with Kankurou. Kankurou then reached into his pocket and pulled out the Heaven and Earth scrolls. Fumiko swallowed the last of her sugar, then stared at the empty bottle in a slight sense of morose worry. The day and a half without food had drained more of her supply than she had previously anticipated, and she wondered if they would be able to leave after the Scrolls were opened.
Kankurou handed Temari one of the scrolls, and they both opened them at the same time. Fumiko, a little curious herself, leaned over Gaara's shoulder to see what was written on it. Man and People.
"Huh?" Fumiko squawked. "What's that mean?"
"It's a summoning jutsu," Gaara said in a tone that suggested it was obvious. Kankurou and Temari dropped their scrolls like hot irons when they started to bubble and smoke. Fumiko just hid behind Gaara, who stood unmoving with his arms crossed, and continued to peek over his shoulder. When the man appeared, she yelped in surprise, and then laughed.
...
"First of all, congratulations on finishing the second exam!" Anko said loudly. The microphone attached to her ear that snaked down to her mouth amplified it. Anko smirked like she was thinking of something funny.
After leading them to the main room, Fumiko had realized that although a few teams had made it before them, there weren't that many. It turned out that they really did have to wait the full five days, but they were provided with food, and Fumiko had managed to acquire a small bag of straight sugar. When questioned, Fumiko had simply said that of course she was allowed in here and of course she wasn't going diabetic, why do you ask?
Gaara, of course, had been the only one of the four of them without a mark on him. Fumiko herself had a few scratches from a flyaway kunai and a standoff between her and a wall of thorns, a few bruises and scrapes from falling or tripping, not to mention that she was dirty from three days without a bath.
On the fifth and final day, the last team came staggering in- Uchiha Sasuke, the blond haired boy, and the pink haired girl. Just in time. Then, all of the Genin assembled in front of the stage to listen to Anko. Gaara, Kankurou, Temari, and herself were front and center before the stage and the speakers.
There was a minor squabble in the back that Fumiko couldn't really make out, but it seemed to involve two Jonin. One was very large and green, and the other was cool and had most of his face covered up by a mask and his headband.
"Alright, now pay attention! Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you!" Anko commanded. "You better listen carefully, maggots."
"Bitter," Fumiko muttered, licking sugar off her finger.
"Lord Hokage? They're all yours."
Who Fumiko assumed was the hokage stepped forward and cleared his throat.
"First, before I tell you what the third exam entails," he said. Fumiko watched the pipe in his mouth bob up and down with a kind of attentive fascination. It didn't appear to be lit. "I want to explain something about the test itself. Listen closely now, it's something that all of you need to understand. I'm going to tell you the true purpose of these exams. Why do you suppose our country holds these exams in conjunction with our allies?"
This didn't seem to apply to anyone but the Konoha ninja. Fumiko wondered if Gaara was even paying attention anymore- all he needed to hear was the part about the third exams. "To raise the ability levels of the shinobi, and increase friendship between the allied nations to be sure, but it's important that you understand its true meaning. The exams are, so to speak..."
He blew out a puff of smoke, and Fumiko realized that the pipe was lit, but by now she was more interested in what he was saying than what he was smoking. "They're a representation of the battle between allied nations. Now, if we look at our history, all the countries that we're currently allied with were once neighboring nations that continuously fought with one another for power. In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly, those nations picked champions to do battle on behalf of their countries at a mutually selected location. That was how the Chuunin selection exams originally began."
"Oh?" Fumiko inquired. "More fighting."
"Well, that's great, but why do we have to go through these exams then?" The blond boy said. "I mean, its not like we're doing this to pick Chuunin to fight."
"Well, actually," the hokage said, and put his pipe back between his teeth. "There is no question that part of the point of these exams is to select the shinobi worthy of becoming Chuunin. That's just not the whole story. These exams also allow for a place where shinobi can carry the pride of their nation on their backs, and fight against other ninja for their very lives."
So that's why they were allowed to kill each other, Fumiko realized. For the 'pride of their nations'. Fumiko would have thought that living a peaceful life was more prideful than killing just to kill, but maybe that was just her...
"Many leaders and people of prominence from various countries are invited to attend this exam as guests, and also possibly to seek shinobi to work for them. This exam could determine the course of your ninja work from here on out. And more importantly, those rulers will watch your battles and take note of the strength that each ninja and each nation is developing."
Fumiko wondered if perhaps this kazekage was more violent than others Konoha had previously had. "If there is a gap in power between the countries, the strong nations are inundated with job requests for their ninja. And conversely, the request to countries that are weak, decline. Therefore, the stronger our nation is, the better our position when it comes to negotiating with neighboring countries."
Politics, Fumiko thought.
"So, its important to show how much military strength our village has."
"Okay, but even so, why is it necessary for us to risk our lives?" The boy with the dog whom Fumiko had seen in the forest, hiding behind the bushes, blurted angrily.
"The country's strength is the villages strength. The villages strength is the shinobi's strength. And the true strength of the shinobi is only achieved when its pushed to its limits in a life and death battle." the hokage said. "This exam is a chance for each nation to display the strength of its shinobi, and hence, the strength of the nation itself. It's because this is an exam where your life is on the line that it has meaning."
"What?" Fumiko whispered to Gaara. "This guy's crazy!"
"Shh," he whispered back.
"And its for this very reason that for the strength of the nation that your forerunners fall in this exam. It's truly a dream worth striving for."
"But then why... did you use the expression of friendship before?" A girl said, angry now as well, or maybe frustrated.
"But you've only remembered half of what I said." the hokage declared. "You also mustn't have the wrong idea of the exams' meaning. This is a custom in which balance is preserved by fighting and dying. In the world of the shinobi, that is friendship."
"What?" Fumiko exclaimed, then smacked a hand over her mouth. Still, though, she muttered through her fingers, "That isn't friendship."
"The third exam is a fight for life, with the pride of your village and your own dreams at stake."
"Hmph." the blond boy said with a grin. "Well, he sure convinced me."
"A fight for life?" Fumiko said, worrying her hands together nervously. "Again?"
"Any test is fine," Gaara said. "Just tell me what the details of the exam are already. I can handle anything you throw at me."
The hokage nodded, raising his fist. "Very well then! Now listen closely; I'm going to tell you exactly what you'll be doing on the third exam."
Before he could, though, there was a blur on the stage just in front of him, and suddenly, there was a ninja kneeling down before him. The Genin in the room all gasped and tittered quietly amongst themselves, surprised. The ninja coughed.
"Lord Hokage," the ninja said. "Before you do, please allow me, Hayate Gekko, appointed as proctor for the third exam, to speak first."
The hokage stared down at him for a while, and then, "So be it."
The ninja stood, back to them. As he spoke, though, he turned his head to look at them. Fumiko realized that he had dark circles under his eyes similar to hers, but unlike Fumiko, this man looked tired. "It's nice to meet you all. There's something I would like all of you to do before the third exam."
His words were interrupted by a violent coughing fit. He bent over, covering his mouth with his arm. There was silence as his audience waited. Fumiko realized he didn't just look tired, he looked worn. He looked sick. But when he looked back up, he was smirking.
"Uh... we have to have a preliminary exam before we can move on to the real one."
Gasps of surprise shot through the room. Gaara's eyes narrowed.
"A preliminary?" Fumiko said. "But... they all worked so hard to get here!"
"A what?" the pink haired girl said breathlessly.
"Preliminary?" the boy with the usually bored expression and a ponytail yelled. His face was tight with outrage. "Just whadda you mean by that?"
"I'm sorry," the pink haired girl said. Her head tilted in confusion, eyes wide. "Sensei, excuse me, but I really don't see the point. What's this preliminary all about? Why can't we just move on to the third exam?"
"Uh..." he said. "Well, you see... The first and second exams might've been too easy. The fact is, we never expected this many of you to still be here. According to the rules of the Chuunin exams, a preliminary round can be held at any stage in order to reduce the number of candidates remaining."
...
Done early AGAIN! But now I have homework to do... *tear*
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