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Chapter 2
The path to the Hidden Sand's Academy was perilous for Kazuo; he kept his senses sharp to make sure he wasn't being chased. After that first chill, he never felt anything else, but it didn't hurt to be too careful, his teachings kept telling him as much. He had known very little about the Kiriyama clan besides the fact that they were very in tune with the scorpions around the desert, and that they were once massive, but now they only existed within his current family. Kazuo kept wondering what all the scorpions around his home meant, he knew that his clan wasn't like the Aburame clan where thousands of insects lived inside one body, Kazuo never even dared to get too close to a scorpion that couldn't speak. He remembered the limited knowledge the elder scorpion Sharasa gave him a while back
"Listen up, good, Kazuo! Your clan is one that has existed all the way back to the times when the first Kazekage of the Hidden Sand village first showed up! He led the main research for medicinal practices in Suna, and believe it or not, your family is simply the main one out of all the families in the village! Everyone in the village either came from the bloodline of the first Kazekage, or from the blood of the founder of the Kiriyama clan, Kiriyama Kazumei! In essence, those two families were the ones that started the Hidden Sand village itself! Do you understand!?" Kazuo then rubbed his ears as if he had just recently heard her, Sharasa wasn't particularly nice with anyone, causing most of the scorpions around her to be very tense, or follow the same path as her. Kazuo then reached the Hidden Sand's Academy, and the instructor was ready to see them to their final exams, the proctor had a serious look on his face and said
"Congratulations to all of you for making it this far, however, just because you may pass your exam here today gives you no room to be any less hardworking! You are here for the Hidden Sand village, and the fourth Kazekage is here to witness the finals himself!" With that, the Fourth entered with his three children, all of them were there in the academy with their father to witness this, and he then spoke
"This exam will be taken individually to prevent cheating of any form, and will be witnessed by three proctors, your sensei, a higher-ranking Jounin, and myself. My children will also witness the exam to make them see how a true graduate passes, and how an idiotic failure truly fails!" Temari stood in front of her father, she couldn't face Gaara right now, Kankuro stood right next to his father, keeping himself covered, and Gaara was in the back corner, behind them all, the symbol of love already on his forehead, meaning he was already lost to the raging murderous intent. The finals moved quickly, some students went first and some seemed eager, others were scared. Kazuo was a mix of both. He really studied very little for the final exam and the way it worked was that they tell you what they want you to do in the exam, and it's different for everyone. Kazuo then realized what his worst jutsu was, the transformation jutsu, if he was tested on that, he would fail for sure. He then heard the Kazekage say "Ah, we should see some good things from this one! Kiriyama Kazuo! You're up!" Kazuo jumped off his seat and breathed a bit heavy, he then entered the testing room, and the 6 people were there, looking right at him, and then he heard the Kazekage say
"All right, Kazuo, I know all about you and your clan… no scorpions are going to help you this time… understand?" Kazuo responded
"Of course, Kazekage-sama…" He nodded
"Good… now then… it's time for blood to be repaid…" he then turned to face his youngest
"Gaara!" He didn't move an inch as he was being spoken to, didn't say a word until he continued "You have to subdue Kazuo! Kill him, and I'll starve you!" Kazuo couldn't believe what he was hearing! Weren't they family!? He knew fathers were messed up in the head from his own experiences, but never this far! Threatening to starve your own child! Threatening to murder your own child, and the youngest, too! Not to mention setting bad examples for his other two children! But what scared Kazuo the most was the fact that Gaara was told not to kill him, which means he could. Gaara then stood up and walked over to Kazuo and that's when he saw him face to face, Gaara had the love symbol above his eye, his eyes were sharpened in a focused, expressionless, yet murderous face. Kazuo then said
"Gaara…?" Only to get nothing out of him, The Kazekage then said "If you get caught even once, Kazuo… you fail!" Kazuo then realized there was sand flying in all directions towards him, he moved around to dodge it as best as he could and then thought in his head
"Ok, The Kazekage's a nut job, and his kid seems… sad… angry… but very… lonely…" and Idea sprang in his head, he moved around the sand and ran straight for Gaara, who had more sand going towards him trying to kill him, not subdue him, but Kazuo dodged and gave Gaara a hug, right in front of everyone, this twelve year old boy was hugging the monster of the hidden sand, even the Kazekage held his breath in the sight of this, and Kazuo said softly
"You were lonely… weren't you, Gaara?" Gaara instantly dropped all the sand around him and looked up to Kazuo with confused eyes "Poor little guy just needs a friend, that's all…" Gaara then realized the last time something like this happened and shrugged free from Kazuo, only to walk back right to where he had sat down before. Kazuo then smiled and said
"Sensei… I didn't get caught once, and I'm still breathing… do I pass?" Both the teacher and the Jounin were in awe, Temari and Kankuro were speechless, and the Kazekage sharpened his eyes. After regaining a small sense of composure, the sensei responded,
"Yes… Kiriyama Kazuo! You are now an official Shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Sand! Report here in 2 days for an interview with your classmates, understood!?"
Kazuo nodded "Yes sir!" The sensei then beckoned Kazuo over to the table, and handed him a blue forehead protector with the insignia of the Hidden Sand village on it. Kazuo lifted it up, took off his blue headband he wore for sweat for the last time, and put on the headband granted to him. He felt nothing but pride when he did this, and would remember it for years to come. The Kazekage and his children said nothing as they slowly left, Gaara whispered something so barely audible no one could hear it… but Kazuo knew it was directed at him… he then exited the academy and saw his parents smiling for him at the entrance and said
"See, Dad!? I told you so!"