Six months had passed since the incident, and the Leaf Village's turn to host the Chunin Exam had come. It was still peaceful in the village, but soon genin teams from the other nations would be entering the city and assembling in the Academy, which served as the place for the first portion of the Exam. All of the teaching jonin were lined up in the Hokage's office, waiting for the Hokage to speak.
"Are you all certain of this?" the Hokage asked.
"I am, sir," Saito replied. "I do not expect any Leaf genin to pass this year, but I do believe they should at least experience it, in order for them to begin to gauge their progress in both their teamwork and individual aspects." All of the other jonin nodded their heads in agreement.
"You do remember how dangerous the Forest of Death, right? That's where most of the genin are 'weeded out'," the Hokage noted.
"Not our charges," Gai replied confidently. "Surely we've been training them hard enough to take even the jonin exam by now. I cannot agree with my colleague's stance that none of them will be promoted; I am certain that, at least, all three of my students will pass."
"Your confidence is noted, Gai, but please consider the teamwork portion," Saito countered. "I have heard of Neji's increased isolation from Lee and Tenten, which likely began as relations improved between Lord Hiashi and Hinata. While things have improved between Hinata and her father, I have reason to believe that Neji still holds a lot of animosity towards her. He could very well use the second and third portions of the exam to put her down, possibly permanently."
Asuma looked over at Saito and raised an eyebrow. "That's a major accusation to throw at someone, Saito."
"Well, Asuma, when someone is witness to a severe one-sided beating that goes beyond the norms of a sparring match, you'll understand my caution," Saito replied. "There haven't been any since team placements, but Naruto made it very clear to me what was going on when he walked in on one of their matches." Turning to the Hokage, he said, "If Gai is positive about entering his team, then I am pulling my recommendation for my team to experience this exam."
The Hokage thought about it, but shook his head. "During the second portion many people will be after all of our Leaf ninja, and if Neji is as much of a genius as he believes he is, he will force himself to defend your team along with any of the other Leaf teams due to lack of choice. As for during the third portion, I will be there to supervise as well, and be sure that I will call the match if it looks like Neji will attempt permanent harm."
"There's also Naruto, sir... do recall the Wave mission and what occurred. If Naruto went berserk when Sasuke 'died', how much more so will he want to avenge Hinata if she is even nearly murdered?" Saito responded. "Obviously we jonin will be there quick enough to restrain Neji, but can we even stop Naruto?"
"I trust Naruto will not so easily give in," the Hokage responded. "He values his team above his own life, sure, but he has a strong will to resist any influence the Fox might be trying to force on him. Just to be sure, though, all jonin will be armed with the same tag that contained the demon chakra last time."
"... Yes, sir." Saito stepped back in line with the other jonin and stood at attention. "Objection recalled."
"Thank you. Besides, I doubt that any of the genin are ready for this exam yet. Perhaps next year when it's hosted in the Sand Village, they will be ready to take it for real. If any of them make it past the preliminaries, I want you all to pull them from the competition. Understood?" the Hokage stated.
"Yes, Lord Hokage!" the jonin replied. With that, the meeting was dismissed and all of the jonin dispersed to meet with their students.
The Hokage turned to the window as a breeze kicked up. "Jiraiya, what's the word?"
"Nothing conclusive, sensei. The Sound Village is new and active, but no one has ever even seen the Otokage in person; only his personal enforcers have. Also, it seems that they've been welcoming in rogue ninja from other villages to join their ranks," Jiraiya noted. "If I were a gambling man (which I'm not, since Tsunade has that covered for the both of us) I'd wager that the Otokage is, in fact, Orochimaru, and he plans on using the Exam to infiltrate the Leaf and launch an invasion of some kind. Rumors also state of dignitaries moving between Sound and Sand, which is no surprise if I know my old teammate. The leader of Wind Country has been funneling many missions from Sand to us, and no doubt they're upset about that right now."
"Agreed. I've been trying to meet with Sand's Kage, but with no success," the Hokage replied. "If they're upset enough, I don't doubt that they'd ally with Sound to get those missions back and make life better for the Sand Village. We'd best be prepared for several genin from both."
"That's the thing, sir; both Sand and Sound are sending one genin team each to take the exam. Seems kind of small, which is perfect for an infiltration team," Jiraiya said.
"Set up escort missions for the Sand and Sound teams, then; we already have teams of chunin escorting Rock and Cloud teams, so they'll have to be escorted by our genin teams," the Hokage ordered.
"Understood." Jiraiya stepped out to make the necessary preparations.
…
At the border between Fire Country and Wind Country, Team Ten stood and looked out across the desert in front of them. Wind Country was mostly desert and rock, so there were few towns and such, but the people who lived there were known for their toughness and determination. Because of this, Saito wasn't as surprised as Naruto and the others when the jonin who led the Sand's lone genin team to the Leaf was a hulk of a man who seemed to be the lot to say little and smile less. The tallest of the male genin was dressed in a spandex-like suit and wore kabuki makeup on his face. The female was the most normal in terms of dress, but the giant fan she carried on her back and her stern expression told far more. The smallest of the genin, however, was by far the most interesting one there. His gaze was blank and emotionless, yet held a hidden caution to all who would even approach him. He dressed almost as sensibly as his sister (short sleeves make far more sense in a desert than spandex), yet they seemed to be mere rags that he couldn't care less about. The gourd on his shoulders was the most interesting thing about him: it looked like a normal jug for holding water, but it looked far too big for a boy his size to carry. Saito held out his hand as the Sand team crossed over and their Sand escort turned to leave, saying "Welcome to the Land of Fire. I am Saito Hajime; it's an honor to escort you to the Leaf Village."
The other jonin reached out and shook Saito's hand with such a crushing grip that for a moment Saito's hand looked white as a ghost. "Call me Baki. This is my team: Kankuro" the spandex-clad one nodded, "Temari" the girl nodded, "and Gaara of the Sand" the boy nodded so vaguely that Naruto wondered if his head had moved at all. "Thank you for welcoming us to your prestigious lands. Let us continue on our way; I wish to have us there before sundown." With Saito's silent approval, the two teams started out. Saito walked two steps ahead of Baki, while the two teams trailed behind a bit.
"Hello, Kankuro! My name is Naruto!" Naruto said as he tried to shake the boy's hand.
"..." Kankuro looked at him with a mixed expression of suspicion and curiosity. "Are you always this cheerful?"
Naruto shrugged and said, "I don't know. Never noticed it until you asked." Seeing that he was going to get little success, he moved over to the girl. "Pleased to meet you!"
"Boy, I don't have time to play games with you right now," Temari snapped. "Go play ninja somewhere else." Her eyes never shifted to look at him as they walked. Feeling frustration, Naruto started to drop back, but her hand suddenly whipped out and yanked him closer. Whispering, she said, "Don't even think of talking to Gaara, unless you want to turn into a bloody mess of crushed bone on the ground. Trust me on this."
"Why should I take your advice when you just snubbed me five seconds ago?" Naruto whispered back.
"Because once his bloodlust is awakened he won't stop until we're all dead, and I can guarantee you that we WILL all be dead," Temari responded. "I won't have you jeopardizing my life just because you feel like being friendly." She then shoved him to the side and continued forward. Naruto, not knowing what to do, simply stayed silent as they walked quickly.
The walk ended up being very oppressive, and Team Ten couldn't wait to be dismissed as they entered the Leaf Village with their escort. As soon as they made it to the Hokage Tower and were dismissed, they all scattered but shortly afterward met up at their training field. Naruto was the first to speak, saying "Geeze, what did I do wrong? The ninja-cat was rude, but the girl was worse! Then she tells me not to make friends with the other one, saying that we would die quickly. I think he's just shy and they've bullied him into not talking at all."
"I don't know, Naruto..." Shikamaru replied. "Temari looked dead serious as she spoke, as if she'd seen it happen before. Plus, didn't you see the signs practically screaming 'Look at me and you're dead' posted all around Gaara? There's something dangerous about him..." He frowned thoughtfully and muttered "I know I've felt it before, but where...?"
Hinata nodded, saying "I know how you feel, Naruto, but I think that for the time being we should avoid them, if only until we get more information."
"I suppose so..." Naruto muttered before he looked down at his watch. "Oh, no! I promised I'd play ninja with Konohamaru and his friends today! I'll be back in a bit!" With that, he dashed off to find the pint-sized heir to the Sarutobi family name.
Shikamaru blinked and looked at Hinata, saying "'Play' ninja?" Hinata could only shrug in response as they watched their friend run off.
The blond ninja sighed in relief as he spotted a square-shaped rock that had eye-holes cut out. "Gee, I wonder where Konohamaru could be? Surely he wouldn't use a square-shaped rock to hide under, or cut obvious eye-holes out to see with?"
"You found me out, Boss!" Suddenly smoke surrounded the box and three coughs could be distinguished. "Aw, man!"
"I told you that you used too much black powder!" a nasal tone rang out, between coughs, from the smoke as it disappeared. The bespectacled boy looked over at Konohamaru and frowned. "If you'd listened to me, we'd still have some of our allowance!"
"Hey, it's not my fault!" Konohamaru replied. "I didn't know it was so strong!"
"Boys, knock it off! Naruto's here now!" the girl said, stopping the argument immediately. "What took you so long, Naruto?"
"A mission came up. I'm sorry, guys, but I'm here now, right?" Naruto said. "Let's get training!"
"Naruto, are you really playing ninja with kids?" Sakura said as she walked up. "Don't you have any real training to do, especially since we have to get ready for the exam!"
"Hey, Naruto, is she your girlfriend?" Konohamaru asked. "Come on, you could do better! She's loud, bossy, and flat!" Naruto had been trying to cut him off, but the boy didn't listen until the both of them could feel a murderous aura.
"'Flat'? I'll show you flat when I pound your face into the ground!" Sakura shrieked as she began chasing Naruto and Konohamaru, who ran for dear life.
"Why'd you have to go there?" Naruto shouted.
"How was I supposed to know that she was sensitive to that?" Konohamaru replied. He quickly rounded a corner and ran into something that stopped him dead-cold and made him fall to the ground.
Kankuro turned and picked up the boy. "Hey, squirt, you gonna say sorry?!"
At that moment Naruto and Sakura rounded the corner. Sakura, forgetting her anger at the moment, said "Put him down right now!"
"Not a chance, pinky," Kankuro replied.
"Kankuro, you're embarrassing us. Put the brat down," Temari said as she walked up.
"No way, Temari. He ran into me, so I'm gonna learn him a lesson he's never gonna forget!" Kankuro wound up to punch Konohamaru, but was distracted when a rock sailed out of the air and hit him in the head.
"I don't know what your business is here, but I guarantee you that things will go bad once the Hokage finds out that you beat up his grandson," Sasuke said from his perch in the tree.
Kankuro dropped Konohamaru, spun around and began to speak, but he turned white as a ghost as he saw, right under Sasuke, Gaara hanging from underneath a branch. "Kankuro... leave. Now."
"Y-Y-Y-Yes, of course, Gaara!" the spandex-clad boy stammered as he ran off, shocking Naruto and the others completely.
Gaara looked at Naruto with a piercing gaze. "Naruto... Mother has no interest in your blood." Turning to Sasuke, who had jumped down, he said "Your blood smells interesting. What is your name?"
"Uchiha Sasuke of the Leaf Village," Sasuke replied. "Who are you, and why are you here?"
"They're here for the Chunin Exam, Sasuke!" Naruto replied as he moved to stand next to him.
"Uchiha Sasuke..." Gaara muttered. "Your blood will satisfy Mother. I look forward to killing you..." With that, he disappeared in a swirl of sand.
"... What on earth was that?" Sasuke said as he turned to Naruto.
Naruto had grown pale and a familiar feeling grew in his stomach. "It's a good thing they warned me beforehand... that guy is insane. How could they let someone like him be a ninja?"
"'They'? Naruto, what are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.
"They're the genin team from the Sand Village. We escorted them from the border," Naruto replied. "To tell the truth, I'd rather deal with the two rude ones now, since they at least warned me."
"We'll need to be careful..." Sasuke muttered. "I have a feeling that he means every word he said."
"Yeah..." Naruto replied. Unknown to the two boys, Sakura had already fainted from fear of the red-headed boy.
…
"Curious..." Gaara mumbled to himself as the Sand team sat in their hotel room.
Temari and Kankuro looked at each other and began whispering to each other; the first said "I wonder what's got Gaara in such deep thought? This isn't normal... well, for him..."
"I'm not gonna ask him," Kankuro replied.
Temari sighed and said, "Chicken..." Turning to the red-haired boy in the center of the room, she opened her mouth to speak but saw a bit of sand leak out of his gourd and thought the better of it. Turning back to Kankuro, the two of them decided to make a strategic retreat. "Gaara, we're going out to get something to eat. Would you like anything?"
Gaara's answer was curt. "No." The two needed no other sign that they needed to get out of there, and so they did. Gaara took no further notice of them or the noise that they made, his thoughts practically consumed by the pink-haired girl who had been with Naruto and Sasuke. "... I wonder if Mother wants her blood, too..." The feeling in his gut gave him a 'negative' response, which confused Gaara. "Surely Mother does, though; Sasuke was strong, but all I can see is the pink-haired girl's face..." Another 'negative' feeling followed, and Gaara spent the rest of the day in confused silence.
…
Sai and Haku walked down a street together, relieved to be away from the Sound Team they'd been escorting. Sai could not remember many emotions, but one he knew well was apprehension, which he remembered to heed as often as possible. "They are up to no good, for sure," Sai commented expressionlessly.
"I know, Sai... but Yamato-sensei says we can't do anything about it until the exam starts," Haku replied. "What I want to know is who those four who had escorted the team to the border are. They looked about our age, and yet were introduced as jonin."
"Itachi was an ANBU Captain when he was thirteen," Sai reminded her. "Surely such is not an isolated incident."
"Maybe, but that was one incident. We're talking about four jonin who are the age of the average genin. We'll definitely see them again," Haku replied.
Sai nodded as he sat down and started sketching. "No doubt about it."
Haku sat down next to him and asked, "So, when is that picture going to be finished?"
"Soon," Sai replied.
"Have you started thinking about giving it a title?" Haku asked.
Sai shook his head. "No. I told you, I don't have any emotions, so there's no drive for me to figure out some witty or thoughtful title to go along with it. The same goes for all of my sketches."
Haku patted him on the back and said, "I'm sure you'll figure something out. Yamato-sensei chose me to be part of your team so that you'd start to understand how to experience emotions and how to talk to others in different ways, so please try to experiment with some emotions."
"I'll consider it," Sai responded. "I know that it's what my brother would want, but I still don't understand much about it, other than what I read in books."
"I'll introduce you to Naruto some time. If anyone can bring out buried emotions, it's him," Haku said.
"This 'Naruto' person... you've mentioned him several times. Do you like him?" Sai asked.
"He's a good friend," Haku replied.
Sai looked over at her curiously. "I've read that the more someone cares about someone, the more that person is in their mind. Is that the case with you?"
Haku shook her head. "If, by that, you mean 'Do I have any romantic interest in Naruto', then no, it's not. He's a good friend, one that I'd entrust my life to. If you mean the broad term of 'care', though, then yes."
"I see... so there is a difference there," Sai noted. "I'll have to remember that..." He flipped open a small notebook, made a couple of scribbles, then went back to drawing. "Is there someone that you do have a romantic interest in, if you don't mind my asking?"
"I don't know..." Haku replied. "I've never really known what romance was like. Father focuses so much on ninja training that I've had to speak to a couple of the female jonin here to learn some of the things that we women go through. Romance is one of those things."
"I see. So, in a way, we're alike," Sai responded. "I've grown up since I was a child in the presence of a man who thought of us as dolls for him to play war with, and you grew up with a man obsessed, and rightly so, with survival that depended on ninja skills. It's interesting; though we're so different, we're the same as well."
"That's a good point..." Haku said. The peaceful moment that passed between the two was broken as a disturbance broke out nearby. A boy ran into someone else, but was picked up before he could run off. Though they were out of hearing range, they saw Naruto and Sakura run up and try to defend the boy, but the genin didn't seem to take the hint. Two others showed up: Sasuke, who chucked a rock at the foreign genin, and another foreign genin whose presence seemed to scare the other two (a girl had shown up shortly after Naruto and Sakura) into leaving. After saying something, the red-haired genin disappeared. "Okay, that was weird... I've never seen Naruto or Sasuke so afraid, not even when they were facing off against me."
"Then the red-haired kid is stronger than you," Sai commented. "I could feel his killer instinct from here, and there's something... what's the word I'm looking for... 'primal' about it, I guess. You could say that this is probably my first emotional response to something: I was afraid of that kid, and if I was, then surely Naruto and Sasuke are too."
"I felt it, too... let's go see what happened," Haku said as she ran over. Sai, who didn't see a pressing need to involve himself, nevertheless found himself running alongside Haku. They quickly covered the length of the park and Haku shouted as they ran up, "Hey, Naruto, what just happened?"
"Oh, Haku! Those weird Sand guys were going to bully Konohamaru around, but then Gaara came up and scared them to death," Naruto explained. "Then he turns to us and says that his mother wants Sasuke's blood, or something like that."
"Yeah, that sums it up," Sasuke agreed. "I don't know how long he was there, either; I didn't sense his approach."
Haku looked at Sai. "Have you heard of any incidents between Sand and an Uchiha-led team?"
"No, the Uchiha would usually be given the hard assignments to places like Rock or Cloud," Sai responded. "The last one before the Massacre was with the Fourth's genin team, which included an Uchiha by the name of Obito, and they had gone to Rock Country."
"The Fourth Hokage taught an Uchiha?" both Naruto and Sasuke asked.
Sai looked over at them in disbelief, saying "You don't know this? And especially you, Uchiha Sasuke? Certainly they need to spend more time at the Academy, to learn more of such basics."
"Education aside," Haku said before Naruto and Sasuke lost their temper, "they're both strong ninja. Don't underestimate them."
"I remember you telling me about the chakra cloak," Sai stated in a matter-of-fact manner. "I am not surprised; not even the Fourth could create a perfect seal. But that aside, this conversation is boring. I'm going to go back to my work." And with that, he turned and walked away.
"... What's his problem?" Naruto asked.
"As talented as he is in the ninja arts," Haku replied, "he doesn't know how to be human. He's forgotten how to feel emotions and often says awkward things at the most inopportune times."
"Ah..." Naruto replied, the blank look betraying his lack of understanding. "... I don't quite get it, but I got it."
Haku sighed and shook her head, chuckling lightly as she said, "That's just like you, Naruto. See you two later!" She turned and walked back to where Sai was sitting, leaving the two bewildered genin standing there.
"Hey, Sasuke..." Naruto said, but Sasuke didn't move, so he poked him. "Sasuke!"
"Oh!" Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts and blushed as he turned and said, "What?"
"... You okay, Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "You zoned out on me."
"Y-Yeah, why wouldn't I be alright?" Sasuke asked hastily. Naruto just looked at him, shook his head, and walked off. Sasuke trailed behind him, asking "Seriously, what did I do?"
…
"Are you that concerned about Hinata's safety?" Yuugao asked as she ate her lunch. The two had begun to spend time together outside of strict team time, though they always spoke about the team.
Saito nodded and said, "Yeah. She's just starting to come out of her shell a bit, and even facing Neji, not to mention a defeat, could set her back, since it was always at his hand that she would fall in her sparring matches at home. She's been basking in her father's love for awhile, which I am thankful for, but it will take more time to get her mind out of the 'I have to perform well to get Father's love' routine."
"Get that out of a book?" Yuugao asked playfully.
"Yup. Been doing some reading about parenting lately... this whole experience has shown me that I may know a lot about being a ninja, but I don't know much about being a civilian," Saito admitted.
Yuugao nodded in agreement. "It's a tough balance, and often I've had to set my ninja career over my civilian life."
"Speaking of which," Saito asked, "how are things with your parents?"
"Well, my father died of a heart attack last year, but my mom is doing fine. I do what I can to support her, though she insists that she doesn't need it, but I know she appreciates it. Sometimes I go over and play a couple rounds of Go with her. She beats me pretty often, actually; I think she's reading strategy books on it or something," Yuugao responded, chuckling humorously.
"I'm sorry to hear about your father," Saito said. "He was a good man. I'm glad to hear your mother is doing well, though. Let her know I said 'hi', okay?"
"I will. She always asks me when you'll come around next; I think she's still stuck in those old days when we were kids and would play together all day," Yuugao said. "Those were good times, huh?"
"In our own world, yeah," Saito replied, "but, as the Hokage says, it's not wise to look back and say that they were better than the now. Remember that we were in a war at the time..."
"That's true. So, what are we going to do about the Chunin Exam?" Yuugao asked.
"We'll just go with the flow for now," Saito answered. "There's really nothing we can do unless we want them to miss out on a growing experience. They faced death, but not real death; Zabuza and Haku were holding back, but these people won't. This profession is a dog-eat-dog type."
"Alright. We'll do that." With that, they finished their lunch and went to go gather the team.
Soon afterward, Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru all held entry forms for the Chunin Exam in their hands. "Feel free to fill them out if you wish, but if you don't want to you don't have to. The exam will be in three days, so if you're participating then bring them with you to the Academy in three days and hand them to the receptionist at the door. You're all dismissed for now; finish your lunch and meet back here for afternoon training."
"Yes, sensei!" all three responded.
"Dismissed." With that, the two jonin left, wondering if any of them would not sign the paper.
…
Outside the borders of the Land of Fire, two genin waited impatiently as their teammate relieved herself in the dense woods beyond the path. "Hey, hurry it up, will you? We're late as it is, you know?" one of them shouted.
"Coming!" the voice rang out as she fixed her clothing. Smirking sadistically at the body that lay at her feet, she turned and rejoined the others. No one ever found out that the body, whose skin looked like it was literally peeled off, was that of the very female that joined 'her' teammates on the path. Golden eyes gleamed in arrogant pride behind black irises as the person continued with the team to participate in the Chunin Exam.