(A/N) Mm, babysitting, always fun! So, did everyone hate that last chapter or something? One person reviewed… Also, third part of the exams today!
"Oh, good morning Gaara," Shisui muttered sleepily, wandering into the kitchen to start coffee.
"Good morning," Gaara replied.
"So, when'd you get back?" Shisui asked, plopping down at the table while the water heated itself up.
"About an hour ago." Gaara replied.
"Cutting it a bit close don't'cha think?" Shisui wondered, getting back up when the kettle whistled and coming back with a cup of heavily sweetened coffee in one had, and a straight black one in the other. Gaara got the black one, Shisui got the heavily sweetened one.
"Perhaps, but I was delayed. A final training session."
Shisui raised an eyebrow at him, noting the scratches on him. "Sasori really didn't realize you already have to fight today?"
Gaara raised an eyebrow right back. "Sasori did realize that. He just didn't care. Muttered something about making it more fair for the other brats."
Shisui hummed, yawning.
"Coffee?" Kakashi asked, wandering in.
"Coffee," Shisui agreed, pointing to the kitchen. "Should still be warm."
Kakashi nodded slightly absently, returning from the kitchen with a cup of coffee in his hands.
"Oooh, coffee! Do we get some!?" Naruto asked, bouncing into the kitchen.
Shisui drained his cup in one quick gulp. "No, you have enough energy. Naruto, you aren't even fighting until the second round, and Fuu, you're the last fight. We do not need you playing the part of human vibrators until it wears off if you won't even use the energy boost."
"Then why does Gaara get some!" Fuu complained, poking her fellow jinchuuriki's cheek. Gaara batted her hand away and finished his coffee too.
"Cause he got ambushed by Sasori for a final training session right before coming here," Shisui said. "And he's got the first fight."
"Sasuke back yet?" Kakashi wondered, glancing down the hall.
"Nah, but I ran into them on the way back, Kisame and Itachi wanted to come see, so he's probably staying with them," Fuu replied, disappearing into the kitchen to see if she could find any remaining coffee. "Aww, you drank it all!"
"I know better then to prepare any more then three cups," Shisui replied, grinning at Fuu.
Naruto pouted at him, plopping down on the couch. "C'mon Shisui-nii-sensei! How could you!"
"Excuse him for not wanting to sit next to a human vibrator," Kakashi muttered, finishing his coffee. "I don't either. That's why we don't give you coffee."
Gaara snorted. "Newsflash, no one wants to sit next to a human vibrator, especially not when they're trying to focus on something like a fight."
Naruto turned his pouting on Gaara, who was distinctly unaffected.
They met up with Sasuke, Kisame, and Itachi on the way to the arena.
"Greetings," Kisame said, grinning at them with disconcerting and very distinct not sharp teeth. A transformation, making him look far more normal, and a bit like Sasuke and Itachi. Not much, but enough no one would bat an eye if he said he was a very distant relative.
"Hello!" Naruto chirped. "Shisui-nii-sensei and Kakashi-nii-sensei wouldn't let me 'n Fuu have any coffee!"
Kisame chucked, ruffling the kid's hair. "Maybe when it's actually your turn to fight, I'll get you two some."
Naruto and Fuu cheered, bouncing around them.
Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to do that?"
Kisame shrugged. "Maybe they'll crash at least a little bit after the battle. Enough that the one that lost won't be too annoying, and the one that wins will still have enough energy."
"They're 'you-know-what', they always have enough energy," Shisui deadpanned.
"Says the person who gave Gaara coffee!" Fuu chirped, sing-song.
Kakashi snorted. "Yeah, but he doesn't turn into a human vibrator. You two do."
"I can control my energy," Gaara noted. "I push it towards thinking, something you two clearly don't do."
Kisame snorted, and Kakashi and Shisui bit their lips to not burst out laughing.
Naruto and Fuu made very offended squawks, and tried tackling Gaara. He neatly moved to the side and they crashed into Sasuke instead, who'd been wandering along and not paying attention.
"HEY!" Sasuke shouted, shoving them off.
"Your fault for not paying attention kid!" Kisame told him cheerfully. "Pay attention to your siblings next time."
Sasuke wrinkled his nose, lashing out with his foot and hitting Naruto's shin. Naruto cursed and hopped around, holding said injured limb.
"Don't injure him too badly," Shisui said, glancing up at the arena as they approached. "So, who wants to track down our two mutual friends who totally aren't attending?"
"I will," Itachi said, disappearing into a nearby shadow.
"Cool!" Shisui chirped. "Gaara! Get those three to the waiting area intact, Shino and Hinata will meet you there. Be friendlier than usual please!"
Gaara wrinkled his nose at the last comment, but seized Naruto and Sasuke's collars, wrapping a tendril of sand around Fuu, and dragging the three off and into the arena.
"And we can wait for Itachi!" Shisui finished, grinning.
"We aren't oblivious," Kakashi noted, nose in his book.
"First up, Gaara vs Sasuke Uchiha!" Genma announced, hand held in the air, and voice echoing around the stadium.
Sasuke grinned, readying his hands for hand signs. His best bet was to strike and get a jutsu in before Gaara could unseal one of his puppets. It would probably be an actually wooden puppet, didn't want to horrify the audience that much, but it was still deadly, dripping with stupid paralyzing poison that would take him out before he could put on a show.
Gaara readied one of his scrolls. Genma grinned, and his hand came down. "BEGIN!"
Sasuke flashed through his hand signs, a fire dragon bursting forth. He went through the signs again, and a water dragon followed swiftly, drawing water from the nearby lake.
When the smoke and steam cleared, Gaara was unfortunately still intact, as was the scroll at his feet, and so the wooden puppet on top.
Sasuke sighed, and got into a defensive taijutsu stance. He might as well go through all the base shinobi disciplines before pulling out his katana.
He engaged the puppet in a quick taijutsu exchange before leaping back and throwing a simple fireball at it. The puppet flew over the flames, as he had expected, only to be met with a neat water bullet to the face, destroying its face, and the following bullets destroying the rest of it.
Two more puppets came out from either side of the fireball, lunging towards him, and Sasuke was caught in a taijutsu exchange with two opponents. His katana came free of its sheath, and he sliced one apart, then lept back to fire off a basic wind jutsu to blow the puppet back and give him a bit of time.
Kunai flew from his hands, setting up a basic trap he knew Gaara would see and easily avoid, but it was the basis for a more complicated trap, a strategy his brother had helped him design.
Drawing on all the speed he possessed, activating his sharingan as well, he lunged straight for Gaara himself, channeling lightning chakra through his katana to slice through the sand and begin a kenjutsu exchange with Gaara, who had formed a tanto from his sand, channeling more chakra through it so it would hold up to Sasuke's actual katana.
Snuck in kunai flew as Sasuke pushed Gaara backwards towards his base trap, avoiding shots from the puppet, when Gaara managed them, and shots from the sand, when it attempted anything.
A nick on Gaara's cheek told him he was wearing his sand armor, as the cut closed quickly without any blood.
Gaara leaped back, skillfully avoiding the basic trap, then falling right into the other trap, being strung up with ninja wire.
Gaara inclined his head towards Sasuke. "Well done, you caught me. Now, can you keep me?"
The answer was no, as Gaara quickly kawarmied with a random log. Sasuke sighed, but prepared for an attack from anywhere as he sheathed his katana and pulled out his tanto, pairing it with Kisame's large kunai.
Another wooden puppet lunged at him, but Sasuke quickly cut it down. Its kenjutsu and taijutsu abilities were abysmal.
Yet another lunged at him, this one lasting a bit longer. Sasuke knew Gaara was playing with him, but he couldn't find Gaara. Had he forgotten any of the elements? Oh, earth! That's what he'd forgotten.
He threw up a simple earth wall to protect three of his sides as another puppet came at him.
Unfortunately, this time, the puppet wasn't playing around, and he got cut, the paralyzing poison doing its work in seconds, freezing him in place. The puppet poked him, and he fell over, unable to stop himself.
Genma hopped down to inspect him. "The winner of the first match is Gaara!"
The stands went wild, and Sasuke smiled internally. He would probably get a promotion after that. It was an epic show after all.
(A/N) Rest of the third part in the next few chapters. Go remember the poll, go vote, etc.