Time skip thing!!!! Yatta! It's now time for the Chunin Exams, and so it's off to Konoha again!

Otulia: You're on a roll…try to keep it that way. Anyway, we only own Chiocho, who doesn't like being referred to as cute. Naruto, however, isn't ours. Deal with it.

Going Forward

"So that's what it is," Temari said thoughtfully. Gaara frowned. He really didn't feel like satisfying his sister's curiosity as they walked through Konoha. Too bad Chiocho was in a good mood.

"Yeah. We figured it out when we were kids. For some reason, he never had nightmares when I was there. And then when my kekkei genkai awoke, Shukaku wasn't very happy," Chiocho explained, stifling a yawn. She hadn't slept much on the journey from Suna, as she was using her butterflies as scouts to keep an eye out for Orochimaru. Though he hadn't shown his face for months, he was still a threat. "So we take turns sleeping. Nothing big, especially when it keeps Shukaku suppressed."

Gaara tuned them out, choosing to watch the sky as they walked. They needed to register for the Chunin Exams, but had no idea where they needed to go to do that. And so far, no one they had tried to ask had seemed too eager to help them.

His eyes narrowed as he saw someone familiar perched in a tree overlooking the street they were on. He stopped walking abruptly as he realized it was none other than Rienne Bascott, the girl he had helped to save from Orochimaru.

Everyone walking behind him stopped, too, wondering silently what was going on.

"Hey," Gaara said, directing his voice at Rienne. She jumped, clearly startled, and nearly tumbled headlong from the tree, barely managing to keep her hold on the branch she had been resting on.

She looked at him for a moment, her surprise melting into a friendly smile. "Gaara! Long time no see!" She dropped lightly to the ground. "You're here for the exams, then?"

He nodded in response, waiting while she looked over the rest of his group.

Chiocho was more impatient than he. "Are you taking the exams?" she asked suddenly. Gaara laughed inwardly. She was already suspicious of everyone.

Rienne shook her head sadly. "Well, because of the circumstances, I don't have a squad to register with. I have to wait until next time. By the way, my name's Rienne. Welcome to Konoha!" She extended her hand warmly, and Chiocho gladly took it. Gaara knew she had been wanting to meet his new friend, and that she would never distrust anyone that he had faith in.

"Rienne, huh? I've heard about you. I'm Chiocho, Gaara's friend. It's nice to meet you." Though he was the only one who could tell, Gaara knew that Chiocho really meant what she said. She had always craved friendship more than he had, and it was a blessing for her to have someone else who wouldn't treat her like a freak.

"I don't think we were actually introduced last time we were here," Temari said, looking a little uncomfortable. "I'm Temari, and this is Kankuro. We're Gaara's siblings. I'm glad you're alright." Gaara rolled his eyes. She hadn't been worried about Rienne at all. In fact, she hadn't even been mentioned between the siblings since they had returned to Suna. But Gaara was glad that she had recovered from the shock of losing her uncle. He himself had known Mushin to be respectable and kind, and knew it must have been terribly hard on her.

Rienne smiled, a little sadly. "Well, I'm lucky I have annoying friends who refused to leave me alone." She looked past them to Chiocho's cloaked squad members. "Who're they?"

Chiocho grimaced. "My teammates, Renjiro and Zenjiro. They're not very sociable." It was the truth. The twins rarely spoke to anyone other than their mother, who was also their sensei. They didn't like other people, hated Gaara, and absolutely detested Chiocho.

"I can tell."

Kankuro stepped forward. "Do you know where we go to register for the exams?"

"Yeah, I've been there three times today. C'mon, I'll show you." Rienne turned and led them down the street, humming cheerily under her breath.

Chiocho groaned as they exchanged their paperwork for numbers. "A written exam? How could they do this to us?" Gaara chuckled quietly, and was rewarded with a sharp slap on the back of his head. "Don't laugh at me! You KNOW I have trouble with written exams!"

In the back of the room, another shinobi was having a similar reaction to Chiocho's, only he was being a little over-dramatic. They both effectively ignored him.

"You'll do fine," he replied, grimacing. "Just don't give up."

"Alright, take your seats!" the proctor said loudly, making himself heard over the voices of the Genin in the room.

Chiocho's teammates walked past them. "Don't screw up," Renjiro hissed at her.

"You won't earn any sympathy points just because you can't read," Zenjiro added.

Chiocho frowned and followed them. "I can read," she muttered to herself. Gaara stayed where he was a moment more, before following. Renjiro and Zenjiro had made a sport out of getting to Chiocho, and sometimes, he just wanted to beat some sense into them. But he knew that it wouldn't do any good in the long run, and that the best thing to do was ignore them and make sure he was there to reassure Chiocho. Not to mention he'd probably get in trouble with the proctor for 'combat between candidates,' as the old man had put it.

They shuffled into their seat according to the numbers they had been given. Looking around, Gaara spotted Chiocho sitting in the row in front of him, to his right. Kankuro had the misfortune to be in the very front row, and didn't look too happy about it. And right next to him on his left was the pale-eyed shinobi he had spoken to the last time he had been to Konoha.

"I remember you. I'm Neji," he said with a smile of recognition.

Gaara nodded and introduced himself.

The proctor called for their attention, and began doling out the rules of the exam. He rolled his eyes, only half paying attention. Apparently, there were ten questions, and if he couldn't answer at least one correctly, he would fail. Getting caught cheating would lose him points, and if he lost all his points, he, along with Kankuro and Temari, would fail. Or something like that. He sighed. It wasn't a big deal. They were probably supposed to cheat anyway. They were ninja, after all.

When they were told to begin, he scanned over the questions on the paper in front of them. He blinked in surprise to see there were only nine. "Guess I should have paid more attention," he muttered under his breath.

With an inward sigh, he got to work.

Chiocho stared blankly at the test in front of her. After taking much time to read and reread the questions to make sure she understood them, she came to the conclusion that she couldn't possibly answer a single one. There was no way. This test was not meant for lowly Genin such as they to pass. And to top it all off, she had never been any good at gathering information in crowded spaces. Giver her a mission out in the field, and you'd never see her. But the only eyes she could spy with were her butterflies, which were highly visible. She'd be caught immediately.

Teams were being sent out, one by one, and she felt her anxiety grow. She couldn't risk being caught cheating; her teammates would never forgive her if she cost them this chance at becoming Chunin. At the thought of her teammates, she immediately glanced at the one who was within her sight. From her vantage point, she couldn't tell if it was Renjiro or Zenjiro, but she could clearly see something that made her blood run cold. He was copying an answer from the person next to him with his new jutsu, the one that let him become temporarily invisible and cast an illusion of himself where he should be. But his chakra control always slipped on it, and she saw it happening again. Desperate to keep him from getting caught, she did the only thing she could do; she drew everyone's attention to herself with a very loud sneeze, simultaneously warning him to stop being such an idiot. To her relief, he backed off immediately, but not before casting an angry glare in her direction. How typically ungrateful of him. With a sigh, she turned back to her test.

She was ready to give up and hope for the best with the tenth question when something caught her eye; something quite out of place. A little bit of sand had made its way onto the table in front of her and was spelling out what she realized was the answer to question four. With much relief, she hurriedly scribbled it down, and promised herself that she would hug Gaara after the exam.

Time passed slowly, and she found herself nervously tapping her pen on the table and getting angry glares from those around her, though she could hear someone doing the same thing behind her. Instinctively, she knew it was Gaara, and had to stifle laughter. Apparently he was bored, too.

Casually, she began to tap out a beat--rat-a-ta-tat, rat-a-ta-tat, rat-a-ta-tat. She visualized Gaara smirking behind her at her display of boredom, knowing full well that she was silently daring him to join in. And Gaara never was one to turn down a dare.

Rat-a-ta-tat, rat-a-ta-tat, rat-a-ta-tat, her pen went.

Tat-tat-ta, tat-tat-ta, went Gaara's.

By the time the tenth question was supposed to be handed out, they had quite a musical number going, with a few others in the room randomly joining in as they finished answering the questions. There were more than a few sniggers and giggles going around the room, too, drastically lightening the atmosphere.

Then the proctor started speaking again. "I'm going to hand out the tenth question now," he announced, and instantly, all tapping stopped. "But first, there are some rules regarding this final question. First, you have a choice to make. You all need to decide if you are going to take this final question."

"And what happens if we don't take it?" someone asked.

"If you choose not to take the tenth question, your points will be reduced to zero, and you will fail. Your teammates will fail with you," he explained. "However, if you do take the final question, and you answer it incorrectly, not only will your team fail, but you will be barred from ever taking the Chunin Exams again."

The tension in the air skyrocketed. Chiocho stiffened; she knew there wasn't much of a chance she would be able to answer it.

"Those of you who wish to quit now, raise your hands until your numbers are confirmed, and then you will leave immediately with your team."

At first, no one moved. Then, hesitantly, one ninja near the front of the room raised his hand. He set off the rush. Person after person raised their hands, and the room quickly began to empty.

Chiocho squeezed her eyes shut, thinking it over. She didn't want to be a Genin forever. And she knew she wouldn't be able to answer the final question. Without a doubt, she would fail either way, and Renjiro and Zenjiro would make her miserable for failing them along with her. She would rather go down with the hope of succeeding the following year.

Gaara watched her, knowing what was going through her head. She was going to give up. Slowly, her hand began to rise, trembling. He wouldn't let her go through with it. He'd give her the final answer if he had to, but he wasn't going to let Chiocho just quit. He leaned forward a bit to whisper to her.

And a boy up front, clad in orange, slammed his own hand down on the table. "I won't run away!" he shouted determinedly. "I'll take this problem! I don't care if I'm a Genin the rest of my life, I'll still be Hokage someday! I'm not scared!" He sat back down in a huff, with the eyes of most everyone in the room on him.

Gaara watched Chiocho, however. The tension had left her shoulders, and she had raised her head, her hand frozen next to her ear. Slowly, she lowered it back down onto the table, and when the proctor asked if anyone else wanted to quit, she didn't budge. Gaara smiled; that kid had given her back her courage.

"Everyone in this room passes."

Much to his embarrassment, Gaara was promptly hugged by one very ecstatic kunoichi.

I don't much remember the Chunin Exams, so deal with what I have. Anywho, I worked hard on this, but I feel like I've got Gaara a little bit out of the character I had him in, if that makes any sense. So, review, please! Just a few more chaps to go, and then it'll all be over! How sad! I write such short fics…