A/N: I lied. This is not the epilogue. This is the snippets of what happened during the Chuunin Exam.
"Gaara-kun~!"
Gaara grimaced—half in guilt and half in fear—as Tenten waved cheerfully towards him with a smile so bright to make her appearance looked scary enough to terrify the Shukaku jinchuuriki. Tenten's clothes were in tatters, splattered with blood from the senbon impaling her limbs while one of her buns have come undone, thus leaving half of her brown locks flowing down her shoulders. Her multitude number of weapons were scattered all over the battle arena, save for the clear circle around her opponent. Standing directly opposite to her, Temari stood regally with the air of smug triumph surrounding her. The Suna kunoichi was fanning herself with the very weapon that Tenten has helped to forge—which also the very weapon that has caused the injuries on the weapon mistress.
Tenten ripped the senbon off her arms.
"Gaara-kun!" she called, voice terribly cheerful.
"Yes?" Gaara half-squeaked.
He winced as Tenten leapt onto the bar in front of him—the girl was leaning towards him in all of her bloody and injured glory.
Her wounds looked painful.
She looked creepy.
Then, Tenten giggled and leant close to peck Gaara's cheek.
"You owe me a date."
Gaara flushed pink.
His traitorous brothers promptly cheered and whooped—Kankurou and Naruto were practically clinging to each other in a mess of teasing laughter—even when an angry barrage of wind wrecked the arena and knocked Tenten off balance.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY INNOCENT BABY BROTHER!"
Nobody noticed the seething Neji.
"Blame Gaara."
Gaara let out a heavy, loud sigh.
"I didn't do anything," he retorted half-heartedly.
"Blame Gaara~" Naruto sang.
Gaara pinched the bridge of his nose.
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at the red-haired boy, before shifting his gaze to the walls of the arena where the cracks from Temari's previous battles taunted them. His annoyed gaze eventually fixed on the current battle, of which a miniature Gaara was crushing an Oto shinobi without a scrap of mercy. Kankurou was standing just a few steps behind the tiny Gaara, looking like he was doing nothing although keen sense would see the chakra string connecting him and the miniature Gaara.
Golden sand formed a suffocating ball around the wheezing Oto shinobi.
"Yield," Kankurou said, voice grim as he nodded at the miniature Gaara and the golden sand that now was shimmering with faint wisps of movements. "Yield, and I'll give you the antidote."
Apparently, Kankurou has found a creative way to use the poison recipe Gaara has given to him.
Shikamaru turned his head to give Gaara an accusing look. "You had to make our life complicated, didn't you?"
Gaara sighed. "Technically, the poison is Obito-sensei's idea…"
His defensive words were interrupted by a giggly cheer from the jounin behind him;
"You still make this exam harder for your friends with that, Gaara-kun~!"
Gaara contemplated to gag Obito with his sand.
"This is your fault," the Nara heir muttered.
"Blame Gaara~" Naruto giggled, almost sounding like he was singing.
"I didn't mean to—"
He was cut off with a loud announcement from the proctor;
"The winner is Kankurou from Hidden Village of Sand!"
Shikamaru directed an incredibly unimpressed glare towards Gaara;
"Troublesome."
"Lee-senpai, come on."
"I will not yield."
"And I don't want you to get hurt!"
Lee's eyes burned with the metaphorical flame of youth. "Are you looking down on me, kouhai?"
Gaara facepalmed.
"Senpai…"
"I trained you in taijutsu!"
"And you're about to use a forbidden technique that will kill you!" Gaara yelled back, exasperated. "It is not worth killing yourself. This is just an exam, for Shodai's sake!"
Above them, on the audience' platform, Kankurou leant over the railings with a huge grin of pride bloomed on his face. That was his little brother down there. His little brother whom the whole Suna population still considered as a monster.
And Gaara was now gently restraining his opponent to stop the green weirdo from using a dangerous forbidden technique.
Kankurou couldn't be any prouder.
He probably would hug the Hokage later. Yes. Yondaime Hokage deserved lots and lots of hugs for raising his baby brother like this. Gaara has grown wonderfully. Is Hokage-sama available to adopt more kids into his household? Kankurou would love to have a taste of having that kind of awesome father.
"I'll let you go if you do not use that technique," Gaara negotiated, a diplomat as he was. "Fight me in the normal, less dangerous way."
Lee went into a thoughtful silence for a moment.
"I will not use my sand," Gaara offered.
As if to prove his point, he left his gourd against the wall along with his white jacket and maroon long-sleeved shirt, leaving him in his lighter mesh shirt. Returning to his previous position, Gaara slipped into the beginning of a taijutsu kata.
"Let's do it like this," he cracked a tiny smile. "Taijutsu only?"
Lee beamed. "Deal!"
Gaara released his sand and promptly braced himself from Lee's whirlwind kick. He was pushed a good few metres back, his sand armour cracked on a few places but the grin on his face was as elated as Lee's when he returned the attack with similar kind of intensity. They engaged in a ferocious hands-on battle—cracking Gaara's sand armour and giving bruises to each other—but the elated grin never left their faces.
Gaara's sand armour was almost gone, bluish bruises scattered all over his pale skin when their long-drawn physical battle reached the end.
Lee was far stronger when it came to taijutsu, but Gaara has a trick up his sleeves.
He spent good quality times with Tsuna-baachan after all.
It was merely something that he tried out of curiousity. Gaara didn't see the faults on trying out new things. Like, Nidaime-sama tried out lots of new stuff (some were even borderline ethically dubious), and if his idol can do it, why can't Gaara?
So Gaara tentatively requested Tsunade to teach him a thing or two.
She has been hinting on him to take up medical ninjutsu since then. Her argument was that the massive reserves of chakra he has, his almost perfect control over his chakra every time he wielded his sand, and the fact that his sand made it so difficult for him to get killed in the frontlines made him a perfect candidate to be a medic-nin.
Tsunade also said that his forehead was so empty (what with his lack of eyebrows) that a purple diamond marking at the centre would be good for his looks.
He was still thinking about it, acknowledging her points that his ultimate defence would be advantageous as a frontline medic-nin but he didn't know if he would have the ability to heal.
He was a murderer after all. Nothing could erase the innocent blood in his hands.
Regardless, the taijutsu spar with Tsunade was exhilarating.
Gaara grinned, focusing his chakra on his fist.
Then, he slammed his fist onto the ground and completely obliterated the floor.
Lee fell into the cracks, trapped for good.
The arena went into a dumbfounded silence before the surprised disbelief erupted;
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"
Gaara looked up to give his shocked brothers a chiding look;
"Language, you two."
"Orochimaru is still hiding among us."
It always felt weird when he saw Minato from Shukaku's eyes, but this summons—and this information in particular—was addressed to Kurama and Shukaku, since they both were the highest-ranking elders of Konoha. When the summons for the bijuu came to Gaara in the form of two masked ANBU, Gaara knew that Minato considered this issue as very serious.
Thus, Gaara sat meditatively in their shared mindscape, listening in to the discussion between the present members of the Elder's Council. This was a rather impromptu call of a meeting since the failed kidnapping incident and the fight between the four of them against Orochimaru in the Forest of Death has yet to be exposed to the public. Even among the council, the incident was only known to Minato, the bijuu and their jinchuuriki, as well as the Uchiha's Clan Head.
Typically, during a high-ranked meeting like this, the bijuu would take over the control of the jinchuuriki's bodies while the boys would watch from their shared mindscape.
"Keh," Kurama snorted, using Naruto as his mouthpiece. "The snake brat is aiming for the sharingan. Of course he is not giving up early. Nothing surprising there."
"I should have crushed him and feasted on his blood," Shukaku grumbled, sending waves of annoyed aura through the mindscape where Gaara was. "If only a certain someone would let me…"
Gaara rolled his eyes.
"I would appreciate it if you did not do so, Shukaku-sama," Minato said, half-pleading and half-exasperated. "He used to be a hero of Konoha. Perhaps he still could be persuaded to return to us."
Shukaku snorted, while Kurama rolled Naruto's eyes so hard that Minato visibly winced at the sight.
"Your brat said the same thing, Minato," the fox beast huffed, red eyes fluttered shut with a hint of exasperated fondness. "The toad brat told him about what happened to Orochimaru's clan, and your brat now is determined to save the rascal snake."
Minato blinked dumbly.
"Fine, fine you annoying brat," Kurama huffed, sounding like he was talking to himself—although Gaara knew better. When he opened the gleaming red eyes again, the grin he carved on Naruto's face was both determined and feral. "I won't kill the snake….," a pause and another roll of the red eyes before, "…and we'll keep an eye on the Uchiha brat too," Kurama huffed, sounding like he couldn't care less.
Gaara could feel Naruto's smug beaming from their jinchuuriki link and has to hold back his own amusement upon knowing that Kurama's decision was heavily influenced by Naruto's optimism to save both the Uchiha's Clan Heir and also the Rogue Sannin.
"Shukaku-sama. Kurama-sama," it was not the Hokage who responded to the promise, but instead, the response came from the only Clan Head present in the meeting room. "I humbly offer my utmost gratitude to both of you, as well as Gaara-sama and Naruto-sama," the young man said, his forehead touching the cold floor. "I would have lost my only brother if the four of you weren't there."
"Finally," Kurama huffed. "An Uchiha who is not insane and know manners," he angled his feral fanged grin towards the kneeling Clan Head. "There is still hope for your clan, kid."
Itachi stood and bowed his head respectfully.
"Any updates on the curse mark, Minato?" Shukaku barked, demanding the Hokage's attention instantly.
"As for now, I can only curb it with another seal," Minato admitted, frustration and regret dripped from his voice. "…but to get rid of it completely…It is beyond my current knowledge."
"Hokage-sama," Itachi interjected, a faint smile on his face—the stress line from the kidnapping attempt made him look aged and tired.
Gaara pitied the young man. Uchiha Itachi grew into the responsibilities of a Clan Head too fast that he looked far older than his actual age. Poor guy.
"Thank you so much, sir," the Uchiha Clan Head said, smiling gratefully. "For helping my brother."
"I didn't solve anything, Itachi-kun," Minato said softly. "We don't know what the curse mark would do to Sasuke, even with my seal curbing its power."
"But it is far better than nothing, sir."
Minato sighed exasperatedly.
"Try looking through the Uzumaki's fuuinjutsu," Kurama suggested in an uncaring huff. "They have one for everything."
Gaara perked up at that knowledge.
Naruto's clan was known for their amazing use and creation of seals—the specialty of both of Gaara's idols, Minato and the Nidaime. Gaara was already on his sixth re-reading of Nidaime-sama's works, thus the name Uzumaki meant more to him than simply being his brother's last name. The Uzumaki has been credited a lot in the Nidaime's works—almost in every single one of the complicated jutsu—but Gaara has yet to find any scrolls that belonged to the lost clan.
He wanted to know more.
"Nobody knows where they hide their knowledge," Minato murmured, wiping his brows and closing his eyes—the stress lines were more visible on his face now. "I've looked through the related scrolls that we do have, but Nidaime-sama didn't disclose anything more than the ones he used in his jutsu creations," he ended with a heavy sigh. "Nobody knows where the Uzumaki hid their knowledge."
"I know."
Every eye promptly zoned onto Kurama.
"Naruto knows about it too," the fox added, not even bothering to hide his smugness. "We found it while exploring the ruins."
Gaara perked up even more. Yes yes yes yes yes.
Naruto sent a pleading aura through their jinchuuriki link.
Gaara, please…., the blonde's voice reached him through their link. Please, brother, NO.
Naruto, you love me, don't you?
Not enough to spend the whole night reading ancient scrolls! Naruto whined.
Pretty please? Gaara pleaded. For your kawaii otoutou?
THERE IS NOTHING CUTE ABOUT YOU, YOU MANIPULATIVE ADORABLE PSYCHO.
I'll cook you ramen for a month?
Naruto went silent for a moment before he cracked and let out a long-suffering sigh.
Gaara smiled, sensing the reluctant acceptance from his blonde brother.
I hate you, Gaara.
I love you too, brother.
Naruto went off for an incentive training with Jiraiya.
It was a month break before the finals of Chuunin Exam. With Minato being swamped with works and the investigation of Orochimaru's threat to the Clan Heir of the Uchiha, and also Konoha in general, Naruto has sought for Jiraiya to train. There was no way in hell the blonde was going to laze around when people has been betting over his match with the Hyuuga's genius. Naruto would train to death to kick Neji off his high horse.
Jiraiya has agreed.
Naturally, since the Toad Sage secured one of Konoha's jinchuuriki as his disciple, his fellow Sannin refused to feel left out.
Thus, Gaara was left with no choice when Tsunade literally destroyed Minato's front door and dragged the Hokage's youngest son out of his bed straight to the medical wing of the advanced training centre in the Hokage's Tower.
Minato couldn't do anything but stared at the unfolding scene in utter bafflement and helplessness.
"You just kidnapped the Hokage's son."
Tsunade huffed and rolled her eyes. "Minato saw I drag you out. It is not kidnapping."
"You caught Tou-san off guard."
Tsunade ignored him in favour of rummaging through the scrolls on the shelves. When she handed him a few scrolls, her face was set with grim determination.
"Read them," she ordered.
Gaara leveled his most unimpressed stare towards his pseudo-grandmother.
Tsunade scowled.
"I know you like reading and researching," she huffed. "Your notebooks are filled with notes on granduncle's works."
"That is a breach of privacy, baachan," Gaara hummed, the noise was playful and teasing as he sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor. "I can't believe you invaded the privacy of your grandson's room."
Tsunade crinkled her nose, lips curled into an annoyed scowl, but she sassed back. "I was looking for your porn collection, boy," she grinned. "For blackmail purposes."
"That's why we indulged those things at sensei's house," Gaara hummed off-handedly.
Tsunade almost broke the wall and hunt for both Kakashi and Obito when she noticed the slight upturn of Gaara's smirk. The Sannin frowned at being teased by a child but leant her head on Gaara's shoulder anyway as she plopped on the floor to curl next to him.
"I'm not having Jiraiya gloating over training one of our jinchuuriki," she growled, perhaps a bit too competitively. Her head was still resting on the boy's shoulder, eyes closed with the briefest hints of anger on her face. "The things that we can teach you with your large amount of chakra is endless."
Gaara tilted his head, glancing at the huffing Sannin.
"With your chakra reserves, you could have summoned all of Lady Katsuyu's body from Shikaku Forest," she explained with a pout, shifting her head to meet his gaze. Then, she tapped on the scrolls she has selected for him. "Read."
This time, Gaara obeyed the order. He unrolled the scroll to start his reading.
If Tsunade thought he has the potential to be a medic-nin, who was he to challenge a Sannin's opinion?
A month later...
"I went for a one-month training with Ero Sennin and you decided to get a matching tattoo with baachan?"
"It is not a tattoo."
"I thought we're getting our first tattoo together?"
"Naruto, it is not a tattoo."
"Traitor."
"Naruto!"
"Lalalalalala, I didn't hear you, traitor."
"I told you that it is not a tattoo!"
"Go to your baachan and see if I care!"
Gaara facepalmed.
Tsunade fell off her couch laughing.
A/N: I'm sorry, but it was an extremely stressful week for me. I want to write something funny, so this comes to be instead of the epilogue. This is the snippets covering the first part of their Chuunin Exam. You know, the Forest of Death, the one-on-one fight and the one month break before the final round. There is a second part of this snippets, before the actual epilogue.
Gaara didn't have the 'Love' kanji on his forehead because he has already have too much love from his family in Konoha.