Okay everyone, I know what you're thinking: "Where the hell have you been you lazy bastard!?" The answer is college. I started the first two pages of this chapter back in March, but then college intervened. Between a series of tests, papers, exams and more exams, I couldn't even get back to writing until mid-May. Of course, that still leaves two and a half months unaccounted for. This is because I cursed myself, or so I would like to believe. I decided one day that I had a great idea for an epigraph for the next chapter, wrote it down, and then decided to just go ahead and start laying out everything for the next chapter. Big mistake. I never NEVER start work on another chapter until the present one is done. I broke tradition, and with it, cursed myself to a strange variant of writer's block. I knew exactly what I wanted to happen and how, I just couldn't find the right words. I could get out maybe a sentence or two a day. This finally gave way about two weeks ago and I scrambled to get down everything I could, and here we have it.

Enjoy it!

A Brief History of Life

The sun has gone down and the moon has come up,

And long ago somebody left with the cup.

But he's striving and driving and hugging the turns,

And thinking of someone for whom he still burns.

Cause he's going the distance.

-Cake, Going the Distance

Chapter 14: Hunter Gatherer

It was a damn shame. Naruto looked down at his now empty frog wallet as he walked out of the bar.

'I'm sorry, buddy,' he thought to himself as he tucked it away and released his henge jutsu. It had taken him a few tries until he realized he would need to modify his appearance to get information. The bartenders wouldn't even let him through the door as a kid, much less would anyone talk to him.

Most of his money had gone to bribe some information out of a sand nin about the exam. As it turned out, what he knew about the actual exam itself was very little. Gaara was keeping most of it under wraps, even from his own people.

But there was an exception.

She had been a good head taller than he was (even as his transformed, taller self) with messy blond hair sticking out at all directions and a face full of warts so terrifying it could make babies cry. Her teeth 'Oh god, those horrible, mangled brown teeth' looked like she had spent her childhood (and perhaps a good portion of her adult life) chewing on rocks.

The thought of her sent a shiver down his spine, but it was the fact that he had promised this goblin of a woman a date that made him want to kill himself. It was odd, he thought, that she didn't want money for her information. He had been given little of the promised knowledge at the time, only that "It's something you'll need to know to pass the exam". She wouldn't tell him anything else just yet.

He shrugged as he made his way down the dim streets. The sun had set a few hours ago over the high sand walls surrounding the city, now the only light came from the windows of the buildings he passed. He had been surprised at first at the lack of street lights in the immediate area, but as he walked he came to realize that without many clouds in the sky overhead, the moonlight was more than enough.

As Naruto reached the front of his hotel, he looked up and spotted the light on in what he assumed to be his room. 'Konohamaru must be waiting for me'

He crossed silently through the front lobby, nodding at the man running the front desk before shuffling up the stairs to his floor. His feet dragged behind him, tired as he reached for the door to his room. This wasn't any state he wanted to be in tomorrow when the test started. If he could get to sleep in the next few minutes…

"Where the hell have you been!?"

God damnit. He had barely gotten the door open and Konohamaru was already on his case.

"Hunting for some info," He mumbled, trying to ignore Konohamaru as he shuffled in the general direction of his bedroom.

"Well, did you find anything?" Konohamaru was almost bouncing off the walls with energy, "I've been sitting here all day without the first clue of how to prepare for tomorrow!"

"I told you," he grumbled, "Just meditate or something. Best thing you can do… concentrate… be calm. Ready for tomorrow, all your practice so far… important. No such… cramming for ninja exams…" Sentences were too much effort, he was too tired.

"But did you find out anything about the exam?" The little bastard just wouldn't shut up and let him sleep.

Naruto took a heavy sigh as he reached for the doorknob that would lead him to the sweet release of sleep, he glanced over his shoulder, making weak eye contact with the kid, "No, ugly girl said maybe we'd see'f she true later."

And with that he slammed the door behind him, leaving Konohamaru vexed as to just what the hell Naruto had tried to say. Deciding it wasn't important right now, he shrugged and headed for his own room. He had already lost enough sleep waiting for him to come back and share what he had found, wasting any more would be pointless. He'd just have to find out about it in the morning.

"Hey!"

Naruto rolled onto his side, trying to get away from the assault on his ears.

"Wake up! We're going to be late!"

Why did he have to wake up? Hadn't he just gone to sleep? He grunted as he covered his head with a pillow.

'Fine, have it your way…' Konohamaru frowned as he grabbed the vase off the nightstand and upended the contents – flowers and muddy water alike – onto Naruto's head.

"Muh?" He opened one eye halfway before closing it again and rolling over to the dry side of the bed, "Jus lemme sleep bit more."

"OY!" Konohamaru broke the vase against the side of Naruto's face in one swift down stroke.

Naruto sat up with a bolt, grasping the side of his head and wincing in pain, "Fucking hell! What was that for!?"

"Get your shit and move! We have to be at the opening ceremony in eight minutes or we forfeit!"

Naruto hopped out of bed, grabbing his cloak and threw it over the wrinkled set of clothes he had fallen asleep in, "Why the hell didn't you say that!"

Konohamaru rolled his eyes as he followed him out of the room and through the common area where Naruto jammed a few slices of cold toast into his face from the tray room service had brought up earlier that morning. Just as quickly he dashed out the front door with Konohamaru hot on his heels carrying the weapons Naruto had hastily left discarded in the corner of the room.

The ninja Gaara had appointed to call roll was just beginning to check off names as Naruto and Konohamaru hopped from the last rooftop to the collected group on top of Gaara's office. Catching sight of the two he sighed as he glanced over at Gaara, who nodded at him in return.

"Name and village?"

"Naruto and Konohamaru," he choked out between hurried breaths, "from Konoha."

The ninja with the checklist sighed, "Tardiness is inexcusable from a chuunin. You had better loose this habit or you will become a disgrace of a ninja."

He turned to move to the next group, but spun back on his heels when he heard Naruto burst into laughter, "I'm sorry," he spat, "did I say something funny? Do you find dishonorable behavior amusing?"

Naruto was laughing too hard to reply, Konohamaru filled in, "You've never met Kakashi-sensei, have you?"

He scoffed as he moved to the next group.

Naruto collected himself just as Gaara began to speak from the front of the crowd:

"Those of you gathered here today know why you have come. Today we seek to hold the first chuunin exam in Suna since the passing of the last Kazekage. Rules of the exam vary by the village that is hosting it, so listen closely to ours.

"First, the exam will be divided into two parts, a practical skills exam and a combat exam. In the first part of the exam you will have three days to obtain five coded messages from five examiners. Upon collection of these five, you are to report to the Kazekage, myself, to deliver them. If you are captured, you fail the exam. If you do not deliver your intelligence before sundown on the third day, you fail the exam. If you intentionally kill an examiner, you will fail the exam and face trial here in our village.

"The second part of the exam, those of you who have taken an exam before will be familiar with. Only those of you who successfully deliver to me the messages you gather will be allowed to take part in the second part of the exam. This second part is a traditional tournament evaluation. You will be pitted against each other by lottery determination and your fighting prowess will be evaluated. In accordance with tradition, you do not need to win the tournament to be promoted by your village to a chuunin, however, it does afford you more chances to show off your abilities, and losses will of course reflect very negatively against you. Are there any questions?"

The crowd shuffled nervously. Things seemed very different, Naruto thought, compared to his last exam. Almost everyone here was new to the situation, or at most had only tried a handful of times. There were plenty of people who seemed confident enough to be trying again, but unlike when he had first taken it, he could tell there were no secret jounins or sound assassins mixed in with the crowd, not to mention the rookie nine.

"Um," someone in the back spoke up, "If one of our partners is caught, do we all fail?"

"Yes," Gaara said, very matter-of-factly, "Ninjas work as a team. If one member fails, the whole team fails."

Naruto could hear a murmur run through the crowd. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Konohamaru stealing a nervous glance up at him.

"How will we know who has the information we need?" Someone else asked.

"You won't."

"If we are discovered, but can get away, do we still fail?"

"That is a non-issue. If you are discovered, you will not escape capture."

"But if…"

"You will not escape capture," Gaara paused, "If you insist on the distinction, then yes, you only officially fail once you have been taken under captive custody."

A dead silence fell over the crowd. Naruto smirked, even after all this time softening up, Gaara could still intimidate anyone as well as he could three years ago. That cold, icy glare would never lose its edge.

"Then if there are no more questions, you will be granted a three minute head start on my guards. Begin."

With a flash, the teams disappeared, leaving Gaara standing alone with his personal escorts in a cloud of dust. He smiled as he tossed his formal robes to one of his aids. He was looking forward to hunting down examinees.

Naruto and Konohamaru had fled into a nearby bar to hide. Konohamaru had protested at first, insisting that they would be caught immediately regardless of the henge transformations they had each adopted. Naruto, now looking much like a younger, blonder version of Jiraiya assured Konohamaru that they would be better here than in some abandoned alleyway.

"Look," he said in a low gravely grumble, "That's a beginners mistake. Everyone will be thinking that, and what's more suspicious than two strangers hiding behind a trashcan in an alleyway? There'd be no point in transforming if we were going to try something stupid like that. Here we can pass as any old travelers and blend in with a crowd of unfamiliar faces."

"But we're trying to hide right in front of them! No way they won't catch us!" Konohamaru cut back, now looking like Ebisu with sunken eyes and a goatee.

"You think so? Jiraiya once told me that there was a secret to going undercover; specifically, the best place to hide a tree is in the forest. Observe…" Naruto lifted himself up from the table they were seated at and made his way to the front door, where a scuffle had broken out between a sand jounin and two kids. The jounin had the two by the back of their collars as the two were wrestling for freedom.

"Something going on here?" Naruto asked the man.

"Just started the chuunin exam, found these two hiding behind the dumpster out back," The man chuckled as the two tried to kick their way free.

"Just started?" Naruto hesitated, pretending to be surprised, "How long did they last?"

He smiled, "Eight minutes."

"Ha ha!" Naruto laughed, "Maybe next time they'll find somewhere better to hide!"

The jounin scoffed, "For their sake, I hope so. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go turn these two in."

"Oh, of course! Of course!" Naruto waved the man along his way, "And good luck with the rest of the exam!"

He turned and meandered his way back to the table, grining at Konohamaru as he took his seat again, "See?"

Konohamaru was in shock, "You crazy bastard!" He hissed through his teeth, "You could have gotten us caught!"

Naruto shifted his gaze around, "Remember what I said about not acting suspiciously? Talk normal, but talk quiet and always keep your cool. Trust me, Jiraiya told me a lot about how to go undercover."

"Fine," the boy mumbled, "but didn't he say anything about taking stupid risks?"

"…Fair enough," he hesitated, "but you let me worry about that. I need you to worry about how we get these code words."

"Whoa, why me?" Konohamaru waved his hands, "aren't you the leader?"

Naruto shook his head, "The whole point of a chuunin exam is to test your abilities to be an effective leader. I'll do my part and help, but if you want any chance to pass this exam, we have to convince Tsunade-sama that you would be able to lead a team."

Konohamaru harrumphed and crossed his arms. It made sense, but he'd be damned if it wasn't just because Naruto was being lazy again.

"So what's our plan," Naruto asked, "boss?"

They had been stalking this particular nin for almost an hour, watching his patterns, waiting for a chance to try and jump him. Of course, there was no guarantee that this particular chuunin knew anything useful, but as Konohamaru had put it: "Why the hell not? We have to start somewhere…"

The kid had laid out a decent plan for nabbing the guy, but he had neglected to plan out how they would get him to talk. 'Oh well,' Naruto thought to himself, 'I'll let it be his first lesson.'

The pair watched as the nin they had met at the front gate the day prior paced anxiously up and down the street, looking this way and that. It was this nervousness that, as Naruto had pointed out, made him look like he didn't want to be there. Something about him just didn't feel right, though.

Their target ducked into the alley and started rummaging through his pockets for his pack of cigarettes. Naruto looked to Konohamaru who nodded back at him. Silently, they dropped down and began creeping toward him. If they could do this just right…

"Either'a you guys got a light?" The nin mumbled as he patted his pockets in search of his lighter.

'Fuck'

Konohamaru glanced to Naruto, who shrugged. "Yeah," the older said, "If you don't mind helping us out too."

"Fair enough," the nin turned around, "Oh, it's you two." He said with a hint of surprise in his voice, "Got that light?"

"Yeah," Konohamaru pulled an exploding tag out of his pocket and let the edge start to smolder, rubbing it out and tucking it away after their new friend lit his smoke.

"Look," The guy said, taking a drag, "I'm really supposed to fight you guys and give you a hard time for the info you need, but it isn't worth it, so how about I just tell you and we save ourselves the trouble?"

"Fine by us," Naruto crossed his arms, "What do you want in return?"

The nin smiled, "Just don't tell the boss and we'll call it square."

Naruto recognized this as dangerous territory; Jiraiya had always warned him about trusting people who didn't seem to want anything in return.

"How do I know this isn't a trick? You could be giving me bad information."

The nin shook his head, "I wouldn't do that. Your picture is on the wall in Kazekage-sama's office, he talks about you all the time. Way I see it, a friend of the boss is a friend of the village. If I help you, I help them," he smiled, "Though I wouldn't say no to a carton of smokes…"

Naruto waved a hand at Konohamaru, who in turn activated his henge and disappeared around a corner. "So, no interest in a fight then?"

The other guy laughed, "Like I said, Kazekage-sama talks about you. He says he's only been beaten twice, once by you, once by those Akatsuki bastards. And if my facts are straight, you're the one who rescued the boss," The nin tipped his cigarette at him, "If you can beat the boss and the bastards who beat him, I'd say I don't stand much of a chance," He smiled, "Sound about right?"

'Close enough,' Naruto thought, just as Konohamaru returned with a fresh carton of their new friend's favorite brand. He handed them over, the nin nodded his appreciation.

"So, can we get your name, so we know who we're dealing with?" Konohamaru prodded.

The nin took a drag as he shook his head, "I'd just as soon not, if it's all the same to you. Like I said, if the boss man found out I was helping examinees, he'd have my head."

"A nin with no name? How about a code name then?" Naruto thought for a moment, "Smoker?"

The other nin shrugged, "As long as this doesn't come back to bite me…"

"Alright then," Naruto chuckled, not knowing exactly why, "What can you tell us?"

"Trust."

"What about it?" Konohamaru asked.

"It's one of your five code words" Smoker knocked the ashes from his cigarette, "From what I gather, the five code words are all traits chuunins should have," He shook his head, "Kinda stupid if you ask me, but Kazekage-sama said he wanted to teach a lesson or something."

"So, do you know any more of the passwords?"

"Nah," he said with a dismissing wave of his hand, "They were real careful about keepin' us from talking to each other. I only know mine." He lit a second cigarette from his old one.

"Well, if you hear anything else, I'll be glad to trade you more smokes for whatever you find out," Naruto smiled, "And of course, I never forget a friend,"

Smoker smiled and nodded, "Yeah, that I've heard," He waved to them one last time as he turned his back and walked away.

In the following hours and days after their first success, they had continued to get lucky under Konohamaru's leadership. There had been a few ninjas they had interrogated who had not known the information they were after, but it was surprising what information they did have to share after Kohohamaru had the brilliant idea to transform into Ibiki. Apparently, his reputation as a monster had traveled far farther than either of them had expected. Not quite as surprising however was how willing some of the male ninjas (and, oddly enough, one of the female ninjas) had been to give up information, given liberal application of the Harem-Jutsu. Their new friend the smoker had even come through for them just before sun down on the second day. All of this had given them dozens of leads and had taken them down countless trails searching for the information they needed, taking them much longer to investigate than they could afford.

As the sun bled a soft shade of orange into the evening sky over their third and final day, they found themselves fresh out of ideas. So far they had been able to track down all but the last word, and they would still need time to break into Gaara's office to make their report.

"What if we pay off the bartenders again?" Konohamaru piqued up, "Maybe they've heard something new in the past hour…"

"Nah, they've all stopped talking to me since Gaara started going around, threatening them to keep quiet." The two sat, in their usual disguises, near the entrance to a small restaurant a few blocks from the heart of the city, pouring out ideas over glasses of ice water.

"What about that one guy, you know, the tall dirty one we caught? He seemed to realize we were trying to trick him. Maybe if we tried him again?"

"No time, plus he knows people are desperate now so they'll try anything. If he's smart, he's hiding right now." Naruto shook his head, his shaggy yellow hair falling over his eyes, "What we need is a fresh idea, something we haven't tried yet."

As if on cue, a girl walked up beside their table. When Naruto dared to look up and see who it was, he quickly wished he hadn't. "Shit…" he muttered.

"Hey there, sweetie! I honestly thought you was going to stand me up!" It was ol' what's–her–name, the woman who reminded him of Akamaru, "Who's ya friend?"

"My friend?" Naruto choked on his words, "Oh, uh… This is a business associate of mine, Komaro," He gestured to Konohamaru, "You don't want to join us…do you?" Naruto asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

She squealed with delight, "Oh, I'd love ta!" She practically threw herself into the booth where the pair was sitting, scooting as close up to Naruto as she could get, much to his discontent, "So…" she said quietly, "Ya boys get all the passwords yet?"

Konohamaru sat up straight, alert at her comment, but a gesture from Naruto told him to relax, that she was on their side. "No," Konohamaru said cautiously, "we've only gotten four of them so far."

"You know," Naruto hinted with a sly grin, "I still owe you that dinner. If you could help us get that last bit of information we need, I promise I can make our date something extra special." He slid his hand over top of hers, fighting the urge to gag, "What do you say to a moonlight picnic on the highest roof in the village?"

The thought of spending the better part of an hour listening to her nasally, droning voice had been bad enough before, but god help him if he had to kiss those poison lips, there would be no way he'd be able to keep his dinner down.

"Oh?" She recoiled, playing coy, "I don' know if my big brother'd like that, me bein' alone after dark…with a boy," she giggled, "He might suspect us gettin' familiar on that rooftop." She leaned in close and whispered into Naruto's ear, "Not that I'd mind if it's you," She emphasized her point with a gentle squeeze from her free hand below the table.

Naruto gave a start, caught off guard and extremely uneasy, "Well," he chuckled nervously, "I wouldn't want to get on your brothers bad side, would I?"

"But if he never finds out, it wouldn't make a difference," She withdrew her other hand from under his and brushed it along his neck, "Would it?"

Something was very wrong, he could feel it. It wasn't just how forward this particular girl was being with him (even though it did make him quite uncomfortable) but something just seemed off. He glanced to Konohamaru, looking for help, and that's when he spotted it, a sand eye hovering just behind Konohamaru's right shoulder.

"So tell me," He whispered to the girl, "Are you always this forward with boys while your brother is watching, Temari?"

There was a puff of smoke as she released her henge, the blade of a kunai now resting gently against Naruto's throat where her empty hand had just been caressing him. "And I was having so much fun." Temari shot a glare at Konohamaru who had just jumped to his feet, "Sit down and relax or I end him right now,"

He didn't want to just sit there and do nothing, of course, but a subtle nod from Naruto put him back in his place. Scowling, he sat back down and waited for Naruto's command.

"So then, I don't presume you'd tell us what the final word is, would you?"

She scoffed at him, "And what makes you think I would do that, now that I have you exactly where I need you?"

He would have shrugged, but for the blade being held so tight against his throat, "Curiosity, mostly," he frowned, "Really, it doesn't make much difference. The sun will be down in a few minutes and I'll be disqualified anyway."

Temari laughed, "How about a deal then? Since you already seem to know me, but I don't know you, why don't you tell me who the two of you really are, and I'll tell you the word? Sound fair?"

He looked to Konohamaru, "Any objections, boss?"

Konohamaru was gritting his teeth in frustration, "I don't see how it could make our situation any worse."

A puff of smoke revealed Konohamaru and Naruto for who they really were, which set Temari into a fit of laughter,

"Of all the examinees I've taken out, you were the last two I'd expect to be able to catch!"

"Yeah, kind of suprising, right?" said the younger, his voice dripping with indignation, "Now how about your end of the deal?"

"Fine," she chuckled, "Really, it's kind of funny. The last word you need is 'Insight'"

"You get that one, Konohamaru?"

He had produced a small pad of paper from out his pocket, scrawling down the word somewhere near the front of the book, "Yup, now all we have to do is tell the Kazekage and we'll be done."

"Right," Temari grimaced again, "But… Konohamaru, was it? …Unless you know some really good tricks, the two of you aren't going anywhere."

"Tricks?" He locked eyes with Naruto, "Sorry lady, I'm not very tricky. It's sensei here you have to keep your eye on."

"Oh?"

But she had no sooner asked then Naruto was behind her, his own kunai to the back of her neck. "Codeword number three was 'Readiness' wasn't it?"

"Number two on the official list," She corrected him

"Either way, I have to hurry and get your brother the message before the sun disappears." Naruto glanced up at his partner, "You ready?"

Konohamaru nodded, "Yeah, but we'll have to rush."

"No rush," said an icy cold voice behind them, "We've got plenty of time, don't we Temari?"

Naruto glanced over his shoulder, spying Gaara standing coolly just outside the entrance, his arms crossed.

"I've been having my bodyguards take out anyone who gets near enough to me to complete their mission. I'm bored now though. I want to deal with you two personally."

Naruto grinned as he pocketed his kunai, He had been itching for some excitement lately, and was more than happy to accept, "Two on two then? You and Temari against Konohamaru and myself?"

Gaara's face remained stone, but Naruto knew he was smiling on the inside, "Even better…Temari!"

She rushed to his side, taking a fighting stance alongside his stoic stature.

Naruto spoke up, "Before we get started, would it be okay if we got the message out of the way so we can concentrate on the fight?"

"That's a right you'll have to earn," he scowled.

"Fine by me," Konohamaru took up his place next to Naruto in the street, "We just won't have time to enjoy it then."

Temari smirked, "Enjoy it while you can."

They were started in a flash, Naruto and Konohamaru jumped back to the restaurant roof to avoid the concussive winds swept up by the giant fan Temari had summoned. The churning air whipped up long arms of sand around Gaara. The Konoha pair tossed a flurry of Kunai to distract the other two as they split up and ran opposite directions along the roof.

"Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu!" Dozens of clones appeared around Naruto and immediately scattered in all directions. Gaara reacted, waving his arms about like some intricate dance, the ribbons of sand swirling around him lashing out, striking down the clones in all directions one at a time.

Taking off his partners lead, Konohamaru created four clones of his own and lead them around over neighboring rooftops to flank Gaara from behind.

"No you don't!" Temari shouted, sending another massive wave of air at him. As it soared past them, the five Konohamarus disappeared, as the real one lunged out of an alleyway from behind her, Kunai in hand. He slashed, but Temari noticed him just in time, diving out of the way and receiving only a glancing scratch on her side from his blade.

Gaara spared a quick eye to check on his partner, giving Naruto all the opportunity he needed to close the gap between them.

"You're slipping!" He shouted, throwing a punch.

A wall of sand rose up, grabbing Naruto by the hand, stopping him in his tracks as it spread along his arm.

"And you're sloppy," Gaara replied coldly. The sand lifted him up by the arm and flung him against a wall.

Naruto staggered dazed to his feet, holding his forehead.

"Boss!"

"Konohamaru, focus on the fight!" Naruto called back.

But the lapse in attention had been enough for Temari to get the drop on him, catching him with a large burst of air, she tossed him effortlessly toward his teammate. Konohamaru crashed into Naruto, knocking him back to the ground.

Slowly, the two struggled to their feet, Naruto grunting at what he assumed was a newly fractured rib.

Gaara turned to check the horizon, "Two minutes," he said, turning back to them as Temari retook her place beside her brother.

Konohamaru lunged to take another go at them, But Naruto stopped him, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"No, we don't have the time. We have to put everything we have into one last attack."

"You mean…"

Naruto nodded, "It's okay, they're tough enough to take it."

Temari chided them, "You don't have the time to be standing around, you two!"

"Just trust me, follow my lead and be ready for anything."

"Kage Bunshin!" Each formed an extra clone.

Temari took a ready stance, confidence smeared across her face.

Gaara did nothing.

"Rasengan!" The pair cried.

They charged forward, rushing at full speed. Almost at the last second, Naruto grabbed Konohamaru's sleeve and everything stopped as the world around them went black. Naruto concentrated on the seal he had hidden in the sand that grabbed his arm. He opened his eyes, as he and Konohamaru thrust forward into the backs of their opponents.

There was an explosion of sand as Gaara tried to put up a defense behind them before impact, but the force from the twin attack was still great enough to send the pair tumbling down the street.

Konohamaru watched anxiously through the clearing sand as Gaara got to his feet and dusted himself off. Seizing Temari under the arm, he helped her up onto unsteady feet. He then turned and walked back toward them. He stopped two feet away and paused.

"Very well."

Naruto grinned, "Konohamaru?"

"Right!" he smiled as he pulled his notepad from his jacket pocket and began to read, "Insight, readiness, trust, loyalty, friendship."

Gaara was silent for a moment, and then: "Be ready the day after tomorrow. Those who passed the first exam are to meet at the same spot for further instruction on the second half of the exam at sun up. Tardiness will earn you immediate disqualification."

"Yes!" Konohamaru couldn't help himself.

Gaara turned his back and started making his way back to where Temari stood waiting.

"Konohamaru,"

"Er," he collected himself, "Yea boss,"

"Head back to the hotel room, I'll meet you there."

He snapped a sharp salute, "Right!" He ran off, leaping to a nearby rooftop and disappeared.

"Gaara!" Naruto called after him.

Halfway back to his teammate, the Kazekage glanced back over his shoulder.

"Thanks."

Gaara said nothing. He turned back and continued to Temari, who leaned against his shoulder for support as they made their way back toward the center of the village.

Okay, so it has been a really long while. I really hope that was worth the wait because I don't want to put out sub par material for you guys and gals, especially when you have been waiting so long. That's why I added in the fight at the end. Originally, I wasn't planning on it at all. It just sort of happened and I knew you would all enjoy it. Now, I just need a way to make up for the long delay. Give me a few minutes to mull it over will ya?