(A/N) Heyo! So… nobody cares that I just offered to give you another update of the Lilo and Stitch fic… weird. (Family Means Nobody Gets Left Behind's nickname) I thought those of you that read it would be more excited about that… And really, nobody cares about Kakashi, Sasuke, Hinata, and Fuu?
Ultimately, the bridge was built, and they went back to Konoha. Gaara disappeared into his room for the next few days, reappearing for meals, washing blood off his hands and arms as he did so.
"How is nii-san?" Sasuke asked as they walked in. Itachi and Kisame had parted ways from them a little ways out from Wave, as they had their own things to do.
"He's good, he didn't cough once!" Naruto said happily. "I think he's feeling better."
"Oh good, I'd hate to have a repeat of last time," Kakashi commented, glancing up from his Icha Icha.
"That was a nightmare," Shisui muttered, shuddering dramatically.
"Itachi-nii's too stubborn for his own good sometimes," Naruto said mournfully. "Also, Gaara has new corpses, so he won't be out for a while."
Kakashi and Sasuke nodded, understanding. Gaara would pop in for meals, but otherwise, he would be working.
"So," Shisui said, leaning forward. "How's Hinata holding up?"
"As well as can be expected," Kakashi admitted. "She may just prefer training sessions, as crazy as they are, to her house. She keeps arriving early, like, ridiculously early, practicing by herself in the empty field until the other two arrive, and we begin."
Shisui was suspicious now. "How early?"
"The time I bothered getting up early enough to check, three in the morning," Kakashi admitted. "I don't even know if she sleeps, it's exhausting."
Shisui looked very worried now.
"Hey, Shisui-nii-sensei?" Naruto asked, all bright bubbly fake innocence. "Her dad won't kill us if she doesn't reappear after the invasion Orochimaru-ji is plotting?"
Shisui looked at him. "How do you even know that. You are not supposed to know that."
Naruto smiled innocently. "Kurama likes Hinata, she's nice. He told me."
Shisui shook his head. "Of course he did."
A poof of smoke appeared next to Naruto, Kurama showing up in all his currently two-tailed glory. "In my defense, Hinata was very nice when Naruto met her as a kit."
Naruto looked confused.
Kurama rolled his eyes, lounging on the couch. "The girl you thought was sick. Don't remember her?"
Naruto scrunched up his face, then it cleared. "Oh! Yeah! Now I do!"
Shisui shook his head, rolling his eyes fondly.
Naruto pouted at him. "Not my fault, I knew her for like, a day! And that was ages ago!"
Sasuke scoffed. "I remembered her, and she remembered me after a few days."
Naruto stuck his tongue out at him.
"Now now boys, no arguing," Shisui chided.
They stuck their tongues out at him in sync.
"Where's Fuu?" Naruto asked, glancing around like she was hiding behind a couch or something.
Kakashi shrugged. "She muttered something about girl stuff, and rushed off. Dropped by the kitchen earlier to grab a heat pack, so that may signal something."
Shisui rolled his eyes, already moving towards the door. "I'll be back with chocolate, give me a moment."
Naruto looks confused. "Why does he go get chocolate about this time every month again?"
Sasuke sweatdropped, and walked out.
"I'm not giving him that talk," Kurama decided, poofing out of existence.
Kakashi sighed heavily. He was so not getting out of this one, as unfortunate as it was. "Alright, so once a month-"
Shisui came back to a shell shocked Naruto and a mildly amused Kakashi. He sighed. "Kakashi, why?"
Kakashi shrugged. "He asked."
Shisui sighed and moved off to give Fuu the chocolate.
He came back a moment later, accompanied by a tiny Shukaku. "No, Shukaku, you cannot attack Shino! He's the heir to an important clan in Konoha!"
To punctuate his point, Shisui pulled out the spray bottle he'd taken to carrying around and squirted him with it.
Shukaku sputtered. "Hey! Don't do that!"
"I'll do it if I want to!" Shisui countered, squirting him again.
Kakashi snickered, pulling out the rolled newspaper he had from working with puppies and bopping Shukaku on the nose with it. "You can't get through his boots anyway, and if Gaara senses any blood in your sand, you get dissolved immediately."
Shukaku growled at them.
"Chuunin exams, here we come!" Naruto announced to the school building. "We spent like, two days here. Oi! Hinata, Shino, you two know where to go, right?"
Hinata nodded timidly, and Shino merely raised an eyebrow and started heading in. They followed.
The jinchuuriki didn't have their biju out, it was bad to display they had summons, let alone ones that resembled biju, as much of an adorable corgi Shukaku looked like with his stump of a tail. He got teased about it a lot. Mostly by the other biju.
Gaara had also ditched his gourd, as comforting as it was, having the massive thing on his back, they were trying to blend in. He had sealed his sand away instead and was wearing the scroll on his hip alongside his puppet scroll.
Likewise, Sasuke wasn't overtly wearing his clan crest, opting for a necklace with it instead, and keeping that underneath his shirt. Fuu also wasn't wearing the container she often did but did have a small version on her hip, a medical kit on the other side. Naruto had opted to carry a tanto, as he was able to use it, just like the rest of their group. Only he carried one out in the open, but the others could borrow it, or unseal their own.
They walked right past the second-floor genjutsu, ignoring the team that was clearly downplaying their skills, and walking right up to the third floor.
The other rookies met them there, even Kiba and Sakura's team.
"There are a lot more rookies here than usual," Naruto muttered, his back pressing against the wall. Not out of fear, more of a sense of not wanting to stand out. Even with his neon blond hair.
"Hey, look, it's Orochimaru-ji's village!" Fuu chirped quietly, grinning.
"No talking to them," Gaara muttered in a monotone. "Orochimaru-ji was very specific about not interacting with them. Unless they attack us, then we can kick their butts."
"Yeah," Sasuke said, shaking his head. "I believe his words were: If they attack you, you are permitted to pop their egos. My minions often believe themselves invincible."
"Stupid photographic memory," Naruto muttered.
"Not photographic, I just remember better then you," Sasuke sniped back.
"Boys, boys, you're both beautiful," Fuu remarked sarcastically. "Now shut up or I will stab you."
Naruto and Sasuke took the hint and edged away. On her period Fuu was scary. And not afraid to stab one or both of them. As happy-go-lucky as she was normally, she would stab you at the slightest provocation. Needless to say, the boys trod very carefully around her during that time of the month. Kunoichi were scary. Even Shisui and Kakashi admitted it.
While the idiotic boys of their group were being terrified into submission by the lone kunoichi, Gaara watched their other two teammates with the rookies, Hinata nervously tapping her fingertips together, Shino looking as unphased as ever.
Some idiot with grey hair that Gaara recognized as one of Orochimaru's spies, walked up to the rookies, offering information. He watched in mild amusement as Kabuto, was that his name, displayed his info cards. He scoffed softly. He could probably break those open in a moment. It didn't look like that complicated of a seal formula. He didn't know much, but Sasori had taught him a bit. Mostly seals to reinforce the puppets, and push back decay while he worked on a puppet, but there were fundamentals of sealing you had to know to make any other seals.
"Alright!" A male voice barked. "To your seats! They are labeled, so sit down!"
Gaara tilted his head. Ibiki Morino. Head of Interrogation and Torture. Why on earth was he- nevermind. Paper test. It must be information gathering. With the point system, you had five chances to cheat before you got kicked out.
He glanced at the paper. Not that difficult, over chuunin level, certainly, but not hard for someone who read to escape their siblings.
He answered them quickly, then discreetly began looking around for what the others were doing. He noticed a brown-haired girl with her hair in buns manipulating mirrors to let her teammates see. He could see that all of the Hyuuga had their eyes running, as did Sasuke.
Fuu had her sparkly dust spread throughout the room, Naruto was being more subtle, with his head down, talking to Kurama and Kyu. He didn't need to have his head down, it just made it easier to hide any unplanned expressions.
"Final question!" Ibiki barked.
Gaara looked up curiously, picking apart the faint traces of Killing Intent in the room, the intentionally intimidating figure of Ibiki and put his head down, relaxing. His teammates wouldn't give up, and neither would the only other team he cared about passing. He could tell Ibiki was not pleased about that, but frankly, he lived with S-class missing nin for a good portion of his life, he didn't care anymore.
"You all pass!" Ibiki announced.
"Called it!" Naruto's shout rang through the room, and Gaara rolled his eyes, sitting up. Second round, finally.
(A/N) This is like, you last day for the poll, so yeah. It'll close when the first story goes up! BYEE! Also, second stage of the chuunin exams next time.