There was another noise a few feet behind the twins. They both spun around in shock to see…

a lizard scamper off away from them. The boys sighed in relief at the critter until they heard a deep voice behind them.

"Hey"

Ichiro and Koji gasped and twirled around out of instinct to see a tired looking Gaara. His hair was a mess and he yawned and stretched, looking suspiciously at his sons afterward.

"What are you two doing up?"

"Dad!" Koji screamed and grab his father at his side and hugged him. Ichiro rolled his eyes and sighed. It always astounded him how Koji could seem so heartless in battle, then be so sweet in person. Gaara smiled lightly and patted his son's head.

"Gaara...? What's going on?" a now awakened Sakura asked while rubbing her eye.

"Good question." Gaara stated while eyeing Ichiro suspiciously.

"Ok this is what happened!" Ichiro began ecstatically, "That guy over there was trying to KILL us! He got out his kunai and almost murdered us, but I was all HIIIIIIIYA!!" Ichiro then began to form his own moves to visually show his parents what he had done to 'survive'. Sakura merely scratched her head and stared at her son as if he had sprouted an extra eye, while Gaara just blinked and tried to fight the urge to walk away and go back to sleep. After a good 30 seconds of the intense charade courtesy of Ichiro, Gaara decided to say what was on his and his wife's mind.

"Ichiro…what man?"

Ichiro stared dumbly at his father. He had known his father his whole life, and he had never seemed so oblivious until now.

"What?! THAT man!" Ichiro screamed even louder, if possible, and pointed to the rock that lyed on Kazuki, except there was no Kazuki.

"What...?" Koji gasped to himself as he saw the boulder and nothing more.

"WHAT IN THE HELL?!" Ichiro shrieked, followed by a hit on the back of the head by his mother which formed a huge anime welt.

"Watch your mouth!! Now…what man are you talking about exactly?" she asked in a concerned voice.

"There was a man under that rock. Kazuki Haro. He must've gotten away." Koji explained, still standing next to his father.

"Gotten away? His legs were broken!"

"Well then someone must've carried him off. Maybe a teammate."

"Baki! Kankuro!" Gaara summoned with aloud voice awaking both men from their slumber. Baki, who slept like a vampire in a coffin, sat upright with a serious look plastered on his face. Kankuro, who slept in the fetal position, stopped snoring immediately and jolted up, his hat backwards on his head.

"Is what it Gaara?" Kankuro slurred.

Gaara directed his synopsis to Baki, recognizing that Kankuro hadn't fully woken up yet. "The boy's claim there was an assassin. He got away. Someone should be with him. You two, half of the guards and I can go search for him."

"No, half of the guards, Kankuro and I will look into it. You stay. We'll meet you in Konoha." Baki stated with authority.

"Baki I-"

"You need to be there for the Chunin Exams. Or might I remind you that your sons will be fighting in it, Kazekage-sama." Baki added, a bit of amusement in his voice. He might not have political authority over him, but he is Gaara's elder and former sensei. That did give him some power.

"…Fine." Gaara agreed, and nodded. Baki lept forward, followed by a now fully awake Kankuro and 5 guards, one of which had no shoes. Only Gaara noticed this.

Gaara turned around to see Koji inspecting the crime scene (the rock), Sakura packing the remainder of their gear and Ichiro tenderly poking the throbbing lump on the back of his head.

"Koji, go wake up your aunt. We're moving out."

"Now?" the boy asked, a bit of a whine in his voice.

"Yes now." Gaara began mockingly "There's no use in us trying to get back to sleep. Now that we're all awake we might as well make our way towards the village."

"Makes sense." The boy shrugged, and walked a few yards to his sleeping aunt. He shook her awake and chuckled when he heard her talking in her sleep.

"Aah…Shikamaru…ugh….lazy ass…"

"Haha…Aunt Temari..we're leaving you need to wake up." Koji tried his best to be polite in touching her, but there was no way to wake her up without putting force into it. After a good 3 minutes, she finally awoke with attitude.

"Mmm…What the hell is it Koji?" Temari demanded, her eyes showing her fatigue.

"Um…" Koji began. He hated when Temari would get cranky, it made him extremely nervous. "D-Dad said it was time to go." He answered as best he could without mentally cracking.

"Tell Panda-man it's still dark out." She hissed, closing her eyes once more.

Koji began to kick the dirt under him impatiently. This wasn't good. Either go back and tell his father he couldn't wake his aunt and see him shake his head disappointedly at how timid he was, or try to wake his aunt once again and get screamed at to kingdom come. It wasn't that Temari was an abusive woman, she was just hard to handle once she wakes up.

A few yards away, Gaara was helping his wife pack, but Sakura was too busy staring at Koji hesitantly poking at his aunt.

"Gaara, why did you send him over there?" Sakura asked, motherly instincts enveloping her voice.

Gaara stood up and dusted himself off and stared with his wife at his son. "He needs to learn to be more assertive, Sakura, you know that as well as I do."

"Well, that's just his personality." She said defensively, now staring at her husband.

"Yes, but it's not a suitable trait for a ninja."

"My good friend, Hinata, happened to have that personality growing up and she's a GREAT ninja!" Sakura fumed. Gaara pinched the space between his eyes. He didn't need this, especially this early in the morning.

"You're right. I'm sorry. It's just. If he wants to be a ninja, he has to learn to be more confident is all."

"Hmph." Sakura mumbled, and that was the end of that argument. "Ichiro go over there and wake up your aunt." Sakura demanded.

"Fine." Ichiro mumbled lazily, as he got up and walked over. Gaara glared daggers at his wife, who in turn just stuck her tongue out and giggled.

"Hey Aunt Temari, mom said to wake up."

No response.

"HEY UNCLE SHIKAMARU!!"

"Wha-Shika?!" Temari asked jolting up.

"Haha! Nope not yet! But if ya get up, we can make it to Konoha even faster so you can see your hubby!" Ichiro teased.

"WHAT?!" Temari then bashed Ichiro over the head with the back of her fan, at the sight everyone winced.

"That's where confidence gets you." Sakura said with a smirk, walking off.

Yay! 3rd chapter! D Please review! if you like it that is! Thanks for reading.