Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters, though I wouldn't mind if I did.
Chapter 25.
However, as soon as Ibiki left him, Gaara did not go home. He just sat there, trying to meditate again. He was very tempted of going to see Jiraiya. He wanted to tell him about what was going on during his training month. He figured he would do that first thing tomorrow. But right at the moment he just wanted to meditate.
However, as he tried, Shukaku began to make things harder on him once again. He began shoving Tenten's words right at him, trying to distract him from what he was trying to do. The demon called up memories of what Gaara and he did to Rock Lee, which came as a blow to the heart once again. It hurt to watch Shukaku crush Lee's arm and leg with his sand over and over again. He wished that the demon would stop. It just hurt the young red head even more.
'Ah, quit fighting it, brat. You're a monster just like me. See?' Shukaku growled with glee as he pushed more memories at Gaara.
Gaara shook his head as he tried hard to concentrate on his meditation. He didn't want to see the memories. But the demon wasn't doing as he asked when he requested that the demon stopped. The sand monster just cackled in his head as he kept it up.
Finally, after watching himself crush Lee's arm and leg for the fiftieth time, Gaara grew way too frustrated and aggravated. He was getting fed up with his inner demon now. So he lashed out at the demon just like Shukaku usually did to him. And sure enough, he struck the demon viciously. There came a snarl in pain from the sand demon. Gaara panted rather heavily from hitting the demon so hard but seemed very satisfied when it didn't hurt so bad when the demon lashed right back at him. "I don't want to hear anymore from you, Shukaku! So shut up! Got it?!" Gaara demanded savagely.
'I got it. I got it. I was just teasing you, kid. Yeesh. Settle down.' Shukaku grumbled before growing very quiet and very still.
Gaara just shook his head as he went back to his meditating. He was still so furious as the demon for his 'teasing' but felt so much better than he had in a while. He had smacked the demon right back for his cruelty. It felt good to get his frustrations out on the demon.
"Gaara?" came a very soft and quiet voice.
Immediately, Gaara's eyes snapped open and he jerked around on his heels. He had already summoned sand out, ready to fling at whoever it was that was intruding on him. He really hoped it wasn't the person who made him lose control over Shukaku during the Second exams. He did not want to kill anyone again. But to his surprise, it wasn't.
It was the Sand Ninja, Yashamaru.
Surprised, Gaara pushed himself to his feet while calling back his sand into his gourd. He didn't hide his surprise from the blonde as he they looked right at each other. "Yashamaru." He murmured softly.
Yashamaru moved closer to Gaara while looking around as if to see if there was anyone else there but then looked right at the red haired Genin with a soft smile. It was almost a very friendly smile. The same that he had given to Gaara before. "Well, well. I got out for a night stroll and look who I find. The one who has been in my thoughts since the Preliminary." He walked over to the stiff Gaara, still smiling. "What are you doing out so late by yourself, Gaara? Why aren't you with your friends?" He asked gently.
Gaara was still a little too surprised to see the blonde Sand Ninja. He wondered what he was doing there. Had he not gone back to the Sand Village? But then he remembered that it was only a few days till the last exam. So they must have come back a little early. Then the question that Yashamaru asked him struck him. "Oh…." His head turned away from the blonde. "I'm training." He said quietly.
"Alone? I would think that you would be with your friends." Yashamaru said with light amusement.
Gaara looked away, his arms folded over his chest. He didn't know exactly how to respond to that. He knew a little of why he was training alone. One mostly had to deal with how he didn't want his friends to find out about Shukaku. Two, because they needed to train on their own. And the last reason, he still could not face Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura of what he had done to Rock Lee. Once again, the pinching sensation of guilt lashed out at his heart, making a pained look curl on his face.
Yashamaru seemed to have seen it though. His face softened a little to concern before he tilted his head to the side. "Was it because of what happened in the Preliminary with the Lee boy?" He asked softly. Gaara only kept his eyes adverted away from the Sand ninja. He couldn't answer. It hurt even thinking about it. However, Yashamaru's face softened a little before he went over to the red haired Genin and patted him gently on the head. "Gaara, you not blame yourself for what happened to that boy. It happened. I know it hurts a little to have done what you did, but it probably needed to be done. I'm sure he would have caused you great harm as well if you had not beaten him." He said gently.
"No." Gaara spoke up, shaking his head. "That's not the way of the Leaf. We do not……we do not do that….not…me." He tried to come up with some excuse but he couldn't.
Yashamaru looked at him softly, before he reached over and gently placed his hand onto Gaara's head, making him look at him. "Gaara, I understand what you're trying to say. You don't need to push yourself into saying it. I understand." He then bent down beside the boy, looking up at him. "The thing is, you are not a Leaf, Gaara. You are Sand. Leaves and Sand don't mingle too well together. Sand can choke the life out of Leaves without even meaning to. You don't seem to belong here very well."
Gaara looked away, his eyes full of more sadness and grief to even hear this man saying that. He knew that he didn't belong. Even in his childhood days he knew that. The other kids had always made him feel that. He even felt it now. "I….I shouldn't have hurt him though. Not like that. I'm…I'm too dangerous…." He was saying. He stopped when Yashamaru placed his hand onto his shoulder and made him look at him. "Gaara, you are very special. No one will understand that. You are special with or without the sand demon, Shukaku." He only nodded when Gaara looked at him with surprise. "Yes. I know about Shukaku. After all, you are my sister's youngest son." He told him smiling.
The young red haired Genin stepped back in surprise and alarm but then slowly relaxed. He should have known that Yashamaru might have wanted to talk about their relationship. He, himself, had questions that he wanted to ask him. "…..so….may I ask….." He tried to ask but couldn't.
Yashamaru just smiled before he nodded to him. "You must have so many questions about your parents and where you are originally from. Please. Feel free to ask about them. I will answer to the best I can." He told him softly.
So they started to talk about Gaara's parents. Gaara asked questions about who his parents were and what they had been like. And Yashamaru told him. He explained to the young Genin that his mother had been a very kind and loving person in the Hidden Sand Village. Everyone had adored her. He even gave Gaara a portrait of her, letting him see her for the first time in his life, or at least that he couldn't remember. Yashamaru also told his young nephew that he and his sister had been medics once. But one day, the young Kazekage had came into the hospital after being stung by a red scorpion. If not for Karura, he would have died. After that, they fell in love with one another and married. In the end, she bore three children. Temari, Kankuro, and then Gaara.
"Yashamaru……" Gaara asked quietly after the explanation.
The Sand Ninja looked down at his nephew, watching as the red head stared down at the picture in his hands. He saw a very painful look on Gaara's face, and that made him frown. "Hmm? What is it, Gaara?" He asked gently.
Gaara slowly shook his head as he looked at the picture of his mother, studying her beautiful face surrounded by blonde hair and into her green eyes that almost matched his. "Do…do you hate me, Yashamaru? Do you hate me for what happened to my mother? When she protected me from the Akatsuki?"
Yashamaru drew back a little in surprise. It was not the fact that Gaara asked him if he hated him that startled him. It was the fact that he knew the name of his parents' killers. Temari and Kankuro had not told him that they told their young brother about them. He was quiet for a moment before his eyes narrowed a little at the boy but then his face softened. "No, Gaara. I don't hate you. Not for what my sister, your mother, tried to do. It's only natural for a mother to protect her child from danger. She was protecting you because she loved you." He then reached over and patted the boy on the head. "Gaara, because you are my sister's youngest child, you are very special to me. If there is anything you need, I will help you with it." He told him.
Gaara just looked up with wonder and something else. For the first time in his life, he felt completely wanted. He finally knew who he was and where he was from. More than less, he still had family who might care for him. There was still one thing that bothered him. "Yashamaru…...?"
"Hmm? Yes, Gaara?" Yashamaru asked again.
The Genin was quiet for a long moment as he tried to think of how to ask this question. His mind was only on one thing. And it was something that he had done but wanted to fix. The saying, "If you broke something, fix it" was going through his mind and he was going to take it very serious. "Yashamaru," He began carefully. "How do you fix something that you've broken?"
Yashamaru looked at Gaara with surprise. He knew where Gaara was going with this. But he wasn't entirely sure if he could or should tell him about it. But after thinking about it for a long moment, he shrugged and began to teach Gaara about the human body. He began to tell him about the organs, the heart, and the mind and even about the thing that Gaara really wanted to know about. The human bones. And these lessons took only a few days until Gaara really started to understand them.
The Konoha Hospital had been very quiet as Gaara entered it. He hadn't said a thing to anyone as he walked down the halls, ignoring a few looks from them. He had paused when he saw a very sad looking Sakura walking by and that made him stay by the wall so that she wouldn't see him. He didn't think he was ready to face her or the others just yet. It was only a day before the final Chuunin Exams, before his battle with Sasuke. And it was this day that Gaara wanted to do what had been bothering him since his fight with Rock Lee, since he met Tenten in the forest.
The room was empty with exception of Lee sleeping on the bed. There was a fresh flower sitting on the bed stand near Lee's bed and Gaara knew that it had been Sakura who brought it for him. He could smell her scent in the room. His teal eyes were only on Lee though. The other boy didn't look too bad. He seemed to be healing nicely, other than have a broken arm and leg that he caused. Gaara watched Lee sleep for a moment as he slowly entered the room and went over to his bedside. He stared at the sleeping boy for a moment before he winced as Shukaku threw the memories forward. He grabbed his head and closed his eyes tightly as he remembered what he did, what Shukaku did to Lee. Then he remembered all of the frightened or hateful looks he had gotten from everyone. How angry Naruto and Sakura had been at him for what happened to this injured boy. He never wanted to make them that angry with him again.
'Don't be a fool! They hate you now, boy! Look at this kid! Look at what we did! We are a monster! Those weak humans will never understand!'
Gaara shook his head as opened his eyes and looked down at Lee. He didn't want to believe it at all. "But Naruto….he's like me….He's…." He was saying before shaking his head as he dropped one hand over Lee's face and started to call out his sand from the gourd. "…..you're right. I am a monster. I'm meant to only killing people. But…..not him. I will not……kill the one that….Naruto and Sakura cares about." And with that said, and ignoring the pain in his head that Shukaku caused. He just winced before he began to push sand grains into Lee's open mouth and nose, letting a very small trail of sand starting to swirl into him, but slowly so that it wouldn't hurt him.
But then, something weird happened. Gaara's body froze and he couldn't move. It was if he was paralyzed. The sand just fell onto Lee's blankets and some on his face. He could not move at all.
"ARGH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" came a very familiar voice before a fist connected with his head, throwing him side wards a little.
Gaara winced and grunted in pain before he looked up when he heard someone else yell out when Naruto punched the red head. He saw Shikamaru standing on the other side of the room, wincing as if he had punched too. "Naruto! While I'm using the Shadow Possession jutsu, I have him paralyzed! I move as he does!" He snapped with annoyance.
"Oh! Sorry, Shikamaru!" Naruto said before whirling around to look at Gaara but then his eyes widened when he saw that it was his friend. "Huh?! Oh! It's you, Gaara! Sorry! I didn't mean to hit you like that! I thought you were someone...else...?" He stopped when he glanced over at Lee, seeing the sand lying all over him. He looked as if someone close to him had played a horrible joke on him. "Gaara……"
"Naruto….what are you doing here?" Gaara asked, wanting to rub his head but couldn't because of Shikamaru's jutsu. But a second later, he found himself doing it anyway because the lazy genius was doing it. Naruto just stared at the sand covered Rock Lee before he frowned at Gaara, eyeing him with a little suspicion. "Gaara…..why are you here? What were you doing to bushy brows?" He asked, seriously. Gaara stared dryly at his best friend before he grew very stiff. He looked directly at Shikamaru. He had to figure out a way to get him to let him go.
'Try to bluff them. Distract them.' Shukaku offered. 'They think you're trying to kill the weakling. So make them think it.'
Gaara turned his eyes off to the side as if he was looking at Lee but it was actually Shukaku he was turning his attention to. 'Why? Why would I want to do that? Naruto hates me enough.'
'Exactly. So what difference is it going to make? Just do it! That way they will become so distracted that you can lash sand out at them and the lazy brat will let us go.'
Gaara frowned as he turned his eyes back onto Shikamaru, who narrowed his eyes at him. He figured maybe it was best to just break the ties. Especially if Naruto didn't like him anymore for what he did to Lee. So what difference would it make? "I was going to kill him, Naruto." He forced himself to say.
That in deed stunned Naruto and Shikamaru. Their eyes widened in shock as they stared at him. Naruto looked like someone had clubbed him over the head with a fish though, or maybe his best friend had stabbed him in the back. It was more than likely the second one. "Wh-what?! Wh-why, Gaara?!" He demanded, sounding too stunned to believe it.
"Because……I want to." Gaara made himself say.
Shikamaru gave him a very dark look. He didn't look happy to hear that at all. Not that the red head could blame him. "Why would you want to kill him, Gaara? You won that fight! Do you have a personal grudge against him or something?!" he demanded.
Gaara shook his head as he felt his sand now starting to slid towards Lee's face again. He felt the demon inside of him starting to tense up, already making Shikamaru's jutsu a little weaker. "I do not. I'm going to kill him because I want to kill him. I destroyed him already. Why not finish it?" The red head lied.
"Man….." Shikamaru said in a low, disgusted voice. "If you say it like that, you must have had a messed up childhood."
Naruto now looked at him with discontent. He couldn't believe his best friend was saying this. "Gaara! What are you talking about?! What happened to you?! You were never this cold before!!" He yelled at him, pointing a finger at him.
"…..I killed Haku, Naruto. And I killed a lot of teams during the Chuunin exams." Gaara suddenly admitted.
That got Naruto's undivided attention. The blonde looked shocked at what he just revealed. Shikamaru just looked stunned and this gave Gaara what he needed. He lashed out at them with sand, just whipping it above their heads, making both of them flinch. Without meaning to, Shikamaru let go of his jutsu with his arms thrown up as if to protect him. When the sand didn't strike them, they looked at Gaara again, finding that his back was to them again and a trail of sand was sliding right into Lee's body.
"Gaara! Stop it! What are you doing?!" Naruto asked now rushing forward.
Before he got too close, a wall of sand shot up between them, separating them from each other. The blonde began pounding at the sandy wall, trying to get through but it wouldn't budge.
"I guess…..this means we are no longer best friends, Naruto." Gaara said in a very forlorn voice, catching the blonde by surprise. The pounding against the sand wall slowed down a little but he sensed Naruto still there, feeling very agitated. "I'm not hurting Lee. I lied about wanting to kill him." It stopped altogether. "I broke something and now I have to fix it." He said softly, watching as his sand slid right into Lee and he concentrated on having the tiny grains begin to push though Lee's body until they reached the bones.
There was a long pause between the three still conscious ninja before he felt Shikamaru move closer. "What are you doing to Lee, Gaara? What do you mean you have to fix what you broken?" The Nara prodigy asked.
Gaara didn't look away from Lee's sleeping form as he concentrated on his work with him. He felt the stunned feelings in the air coming from the two on the other side of his wall. "I'm mending the bones I shattered. Using my sand, I'm going to fill in the cracks and put the pieces back together." He told them, concentrating. "With my sand, the bones will mend faster and stronger."
"…….Gaara, what happened to you? Did you seriously kill Haku? Why?" Naruto asked, sounding pained.
Gaara closed his eyes when he asked that question. It hurt to hear Naruto sound like that. To ask him a question like that. He wished this was all a bad dream that he could wake up from and everything would turn back the way it should have been.
"….." He was quiet for a very long time, listening to the breathing of his former friend and the lazy ninja. But after a while, he made his decision. It was time to tell Naruto the truth. It was time to tell him what he really was. "Naruto…..I know your secret, but you do not know mine. We are the same, you and I. You think you're a monster? Wait till you see what kind of monster I have inside of me." He turned slightly as he called his sand wall away, seeing the stunned look on Naruto's face. "You know that I grew up without parents, not knowing who I was, where I was from. Nothing about me. But only then I found out the truth about me. My mother was murdered by rogue ninja while trying to bring me here to Konoha Village. She died protecting me from them. They wanted me because of what I possess inside of me. I possess the One Tailed Beast, Shukaku. Shukaku is a bloodthirsty beast and it was he who demanded me to kill Haku. It is he because I can't sleep. And it was he who made me destroy Rock Lee's dreams. I came here to the Leaf Village as a monster. That's why no one likes me. Because I'm a threat to everyone here. There had been a few times where a few Leaf ninja had tried to kill me because of Shukaku. If it weren't for my mentor, Jiraiya, I would have become a worst monster. I would have killed them." He shook his head. "This is why…..Naruto, this is why we cannot be friends anymore. Because I'm a monster. A real monster." He told him before he turned his eyes back onto Lee, concentrating on pushing his sand onto the cracked bones and filling in the cracks. Once he finished, he turned back and gave Naruto a forlorn look. "And I plan on destroying those who destroyed my mother's life. If you get in my way, I'm afraid I won't be able to stop myself from killing you. I will not be able to stop Shukaku from kill you." He said before he walked straight to the door, pausing when Gai suddenly appeared there, looking surprised to see them.
By the looks of it, he had heard the entire thing. There was a very sad look on the Jounin's face as he looked down at Gaara. "Gaara….." He muttered.
But Gaara shook his head as he walked right past him, pausing again to look at the wide-eyed look on Naruto's face. He was sure that was a look of stunned disgust there, when in fact, it was a look of understanding. But without a word, he turned and left the room.
The very next day was the final Chuunin Exams. A lot of people had turned up for the event. And a lot of them were foreigners. Some were even from the Sand Village. Gaara had gone to the Konoha Ninja Arena first thing in the morning. He had been there for several hours now, looking around at the arena below. He had seen plenty of people already starting to fill up the seats. But Gaara really didn't pay any attention to them. His mind was on the training he had done with Ibiki and Anko. He'd have to work very hard to get through this. He knew Shukaku might not make it easy on him while fighting Sasuke.
However, there was one other thing on his mind. Something that was going to be very hard to do. He knew it might be close to being impossible, and he knew that it would make Jiraiya very disappointed in him but he knew it was something he needed to do.
Gaara had decided that once the Chuunin Exams were over, he would be leaving Konoha Village with Yashamaru and his siblings. He would return to the Suna Village and help them get rid of the Akatsuki. He hadn't liked it when Yashamaru told him all about what was happening in the village. And his two siblings made it sound like everyone in the Sand Village were the Akatsuki's slaves. So he swore to himself that he would use the power of Shukaku to free the village from their clutches.
"Gaara."
The red head blinked out of his thoughts while sitting on one of the baloneys and looked over his shoulder to see Yashamaru walking towards him. His face softened a little before he turned and stood up, facing the Sand Ninja. "Yashamaru-san." He greeted him.
Yashamaru just smiled down at him as he approached the red head. He looked rather tired though, as if something was bothering him. He looked as if he had been up rather early. "Gaara, I wish you luck today. I hope to see your best skills." He told him softly before turning his head slightly off to the side when Temari and Kankuro started to approach, both immediately hesitating when they saw Gaara. "Today, I'm standing in for the Suna Village leader." The blonde ninja said before looking back down at Gaara, smiling.
Gaara just tilted his head to the side but then nodded. "Thank you, Yashamaru." He told him quietly before looking at his hesitant siblings. "Temari, Kankuro, we should probably get down in the arena. Everyone's arriving."
Temari and Kankuro blinked in surprise. They hadn't been expecting Gaara to even say a word to them. It had been so long since they even talked to him. They had thought he still held a grudge against them for telling him the truth. But by the looks of it, he was accepting it. Smiling, the two nodded before they turned and walked towards the stairs. Gaara, on the other hand, formed a hand sign, using his sand teleportation to get down in the arena.
As everyone began to arrive for the final exams, Gaara looked up into the stands, noting several people he knew. He saw the Hokage sitting with another person that took the appearance of a Kage but he wasn't entirely sure which one it was. Yashamaru was no where to be seen though. The young red head wondered where he was. He was also a little disappointed when he didn't see Jiraiya there either. This made him feel a little discouraged to not see him. He paused when he saw a flash of pink in the stands and he looked up to see a very troubled looking Sakura staring down at him. She also was looking around and it didn't take him more than a few moments to realize that she was looking for that she was more worried about Sasuke than him. That just made the red head scowl silently to himself. She wasn't the only one that caught his attention though. Several people were looking down at him with scowls. They were not fond of him, obviously. But he didn't care. This would be the day they would regret ever underestimating him.
Feeling more eyes on him, Gaara tilted his head to the side and he saw Naruto watching him with a frown. He was obviously still trying to think about what Gaara had revealed to him. The blonde looked rather troubled as if he was trying to sort out his thoughts. With a serious look on his face, Gaara looked forward again. He also noticed that the Sound ninja, Dosu wasn't there. That made the red head frown a little but didn't linger on that too long.
Finally, the exam was finally about to begin. More than hundreds of people were sitting down in the stands, including many wealthy looking fellows. There had been quite a few faces that Gaara also recognized. But his sea-foam colored eyes went directly up to the Hokage as he stood up.
"Thanks, everyone from coming……to the Hidden Leaf Chuunin Selection Exam!! We will now start the main tournament matches!" The old man bellowed out. "Between the 8 participants who made it though the Preliminaries. Please stay and watch until the end!" And the crowd erupted into cheers and applause.
However, the before things really got started, the Leaf Ninja who was serving as the Proctor, whose name was revealed as Genma, held up a chart with everyone's names. "There's something I'd like to tell you before the matches. Look at this." On it showed the match ups. But there was no Dosu of the Sound on it. It surprised quite a few of the others though. Gaara didn't care either way. "There have been some minor changes to the tournament. Check once again to see who you're fighting." Genma added.
"Hey, hey!!" Naruto said raising a hand to get Genma's attention. The Leaf Ninja proctor gave him a look of boredom but acknowledged him with a nod. Sasuke isn't here yet! What are you going to do?"
Genma just shrugged as he gave the blonde a smirk. "If he doesn't appear by the time of his match, he will receive a default loss." He told him simply. That just made Gaara frown as he clenched his fist. 'You better show up, Sasuke. I have to test my existence against you. I have to know if I'm strong enough to kill the one who murdered my mother.' He thought bitterly to himself.
"All right, guys. This is the final test." Genma said lifting his head and stuffing the chart into his Jounin vest. "The arena is different but the rules are the same as in the Prelims. There are none. You fight until one of you dies or acknowledges defeat. But if I determine that the fight is over, I'll step in and stop it. You got that?" No one said anything but they nodded. So with a satisfied nod, Genma waved a hand at them. "Now, the first fight, Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga. Those two stay here while the rest of you go to the waiting room."
So slowly, one by one everyone headed straight for the doors and went up onto the waiting balcony where the contestants were going to be watching the fights. Gaara went off to a beam and leaned against it, though he paused to glance over when he saw Shikamaru watching him. He knew that the other Genin was uneasy of him ever since their encounter the day before. But the red head chose to ignore him.
Finally the match between Naruto and Neji began. Gaara watched as Naruto started things off by creating four Shadow Clones, each one with a kunai in their hands. They charged at Neji, who quickly dodged one of them. Without any problem at all, he beat the clones pretty quickly before the real fight began. It was a very long one but Naruto was doing really good for what he was normally up against. He even managed to bluff Neji out of thinking that one of his clones were the real one. This made many people jump to their feet with cheers as they watched him fight Neji.
At one point, though, Neji took the upper hand and things didn't look too good for Naruto. He began spinning around rapidly in circles, which made many people gasp when Naruto got thrown off of Neji without so much as a scratch on him. From what Gaara could see, it was Neji's absolute defense, something that was pretty close to being Gaara's sand defense. But before things looked like they were over for Naruto, the blonde kept getting up, making the crowd go wild. Gaara just narrowed his eyes as he watched how beat up Naruto was getting. He didn't like it at all. He wanted to help Naruto but this was not his fight.
However, before Neji could really beat Naruto, something began to happen. A familiar energy began to swirl all around the blonde, as he glared right at Neji, something that Gaara had felt once before.
'Kyuubi.' Shukaku growled as he watched through Gaara's eyes. 'The little kitsune brat is using the stupid fox's power.'
Gaara narrowed his eyes a little as he watched Naruto as he launched a full out attack on Neji. The red head felt his lips curve upward, knowing who was going to win this battle. So he was not worried at all. Neji might have had more experience than the blonde ninja but Naruto had more power than him. So he wasn't surprised when Naruto won the battle. Now it was time for Gaara's match with Sasuke.
Problem was, Sasuke was still not there.
There was several long moments as everyone waited for the calling of the next match. Gaara looked around, just waiting to be called into the arena. But it didn't come. Most of the audience were now getting impatient as they waited for the next battle to start. Some started calling down to Genma to call the next match but he didn't listen. He just stood there, watching the Kage box, waiting for the signal from the Hokage.
After a long moment, there was a puff of smoke and a Leaf Ninja suddenly appeared next to Genma. The brown haired ninja turned to him while chewing on a senbon and had a quiet word with the new arrival. A few mere words were passed between the two before the Proctor nodded. And just as swift as he came, the messenger was gone again, reappearing in the Kage box. Genma, just looked up at the audience, holding up his hands. "All right! Due to a request from the Sound Village Leader, the match between Gaara and Sasuke Uchiha has been postponed until later! We will be moving onto the third match ups! Will the next candidates please come forward! Kankuro vs Shino!" He called.
"I forfeit!" Kankuro sudden shouted down to Genma.
This only brought a sudden burst of surprise around the entire arena. Several people yelled their discontent while Gaara frowned and looked right at Kankuro standing a few paces away from him. He didn't understand why the Puppet master wanted to throw in the towel already. Was he joking? By the looks of it, he was being very serious. So he must have been a little intimidated by Shino Aburame then. In a way, Gaara didn't blame him too much. Shino was kind of creepy in a weird way. So the next match would have been between Temari and Shikamaru. The blonde Sand Ninja smirked to herself, obviously not going to throw in this match. She seemed very interested in beating up on the lazy ninja, who looked rather annoyed from where he was sitting next to Naruto.
"All right then. Temari vs. Shikamaru Nara! Come on down!" Genma called.
Temari jumped up onto the railing before opening up her fan and flew down on it. She landed on the ground, making several men just cheer or cat call her for her amazing entrance. She just ignored them as she picked up her fan and smirked right up at where Shikamaru was sitting. "Let's get this over with. Come and get me, tiger." She said grinning up at him.
However, Shikamaru made a face, looking as if he was going to forfeit too. He obviously didn't want to fight another girl. But Naruto had other plans though. He just grinned as he immediately shoved Shikamaru forward and tumbling over the railing. "Go get her, Shikamaru! Show her what you got!" The blonde cheered. Shikamaru landed in the arena with a grunt while many burst into laughter or cheered for the fight. Gaara felt himself smirk as he watched Shikamaru climb to his feet and send a glare up at Naruto who was bellowing with laughter. He was actually glad that his best friend…..former best friend made the lazy ninja enter the fight. After not watching the last match, the red head was interested in seeing Temari's moves. He wanted to see how good she was.
And truth be told, the match between Temari and Shikamaru was a very long one. It started off with Shikamaru trying to avoid getting hit by Temari's amazingly powerful gusts of wind from her fan. He did a lot of dodging and hiding behind a tree, which seemed to agitate her.
But after almost a half an hour of dodging, Shikamaru began to use strategy, and it stunned a lot of people.
For most of Gaara's life of knowing Shikamaru, he had always thought that the Nara brat was nothing but a lazy, good for nothing kid. He had never shown any motive of being a ninja at all. He always fell asleep in classes or laid out in fields watching clouds roll by, but he had never shown any promise in fighting. He had always acted like a lazy-ass idiot. That is, until now.
In this match against his oldest sibling, Gaara watched as Shikamaru began using a high level of intelligence while fighting Temari. He was using extremely incredible techniques in trying to outwit her and try to capture her with his Shadow Possession. It was now her trying to dodge his Jutsu. She kept leaping away before her shadow connected with his. But that seemed to be apart of Shikamaru's plan. For in the end, he captured her shadow, forcing her to do whatever he wanted her to do. The only thing he did though, was call in the towel, saying he was giving up when he could have made her knock herself out and win the match. The biggest outburst of shock came from Naruto, of course. He always over reacted, even if it was someone else who was giving up. When Genma announced a very stunned Temari as the winner, Naruto leapt down into the arena and began to lecture Shikamaru for his giving up. Of course, the procrastinated ninja ignored him. He just explained that he did it because it was stupid fighting girls.
Suddenly, while Naruto was still yelling at Shikamaru, there was a sudden explosion of smoke within the middle of the arena. Several people jumped to their feet with yells of shock as they watched as smoke and leaves began to blow away from the intruders. But Gaara was one of the few who smirked when he realized who it was. He lift his head and folded his arms tightly over his chest as he moved closer to the railing. "It's about time." He called down to the arena.
The smoke cleared, revealing Sasuke Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake.
Sasuke smirked as he tilted his head upward, meeting Gaara's teal eyes with his dark ones. He did look a little different since they saw each other a month ago. His hair had grown a little longer and he now was wearing all black, instead of his blue shirt. There was definitely something a little stronger about him too. "Sorry about that, Gaara. I didn't mean to keep you waiting." He said, smirking at the red head. "Now get down here and let's fight."