Qualifying for and infiltrating the Chunin Exams was much easier than Gaara of the Desert or his siblings and mentor had anticipated.

Held once again in the Hidden Leaf Village—or Konoha for those more familiar with it—this would be the starting stage of their war. The only thing that took the most time was receiving their temporary traveler's pass, which gave them permission to enter the village for the exam.

What naïve fools.

The Hokage really should have thought more carefully about extending the invitation out to people outside of his own village. Though stoic on the outside, Gaara couldn't have been any more eager to kill some weak, defenseless shinobi without them fully realizing what was going on. He could practically taste the blood on his lips—

"Excuse us."

Blinking his demonic thoughts away, Gaara finally noticed the two Leaf genin gazing at him. He barely recognized the blonde haired boy from the day before, but knew he never seen the girl before. He would remember her lavender, pupil-less eyes. It reminded Gaara of the moon on very still and calm nights.

Glaring at the two, Gaara wondered monotonously, "What do you want?"

"My friend wanted to meet you," the boy with unusual whiskers claimed. "This is her."

Now, Gaara had to admit, seeing the girl smile at him for no particular reason really caught him off-guard. Still, her smile was so bewitching. Gaara could feel himself faking under whatever genjutsu she casted on him. He knew it was most likely impossible for her to do so—

But he had to give himself an explanation for why he felt so entranced by her.

"Hi," the moon-eyes girl greeted softly. "I'm Hinata Hyuga. It's nice to meet you!"

This 'Hinata' held out her hand expectantly, causing Gaara to snarl at her unamused. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to shake your hand," Hinata claimed, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's the first thing you do when you meet someone new, especially when you are trying to make a new friend."

Gaara scoffed at the ridiculous notion, "You don't want to be friends with me," he argued, adding forcefully. "You shouldn't be friends with someone like me."

"Yes, she does," whisker-boy insisted. "If you feel like you don't deserve a friend, she doesn't care. She knows when someone needs a friend. No one in the village ever looked at me unless they were glaring or yelling at me to get lost because they all hated me. Hinata is the first and only friend I had for years until a few months before we graduated the Ninja Academy. She deserves the chance to show you what a great friend she can be."

Although he was still a bit skeptical, Gaara actually shook Hinata's hand, surprising his siblings—Temari and Kankuro—by his actions. "Sabaku no Gaara," he greeted, translating, "or Gaara of the Desert, if you prefer."

Hinata's smile grew widely at the physical touch, even though it was brief. "This is my best friend." Hinata gestures to the whisker boy next to her. "Naruto Uzumaki. He's going to become Hokage someday."

Even though they both hesitated at first, the two boys shook each other's hand fairly quickly—

But it was enough time for the monster to take interest.

This boy . . . the monster thought inside Gaara's mind. He carried one of my brothers, but I don't know who.

Interesting. Gaara pondered on that revelation. Let's leave them alone if they don't get in our way.

Barely registering Hinata's giggle, the red-head forced himself to focus when she offered, "If you have nothing to do later, Naruto and I can show you around the village after the first or second part of the exam."

Naruto perked yo at the idea. "We can show you the best ramen shop in the village!" he shouted in excitement. "It's my favorite place to eat, but I'll always take Hinata's cooking first."

Rolling her eyes playfully, Hinata added, "Your teammates are more than welcomed to join us if they want."

Hesitating for a split second, Gaara commented, "It will depend on how the exams go for my siblings. As of now, I will join you. I want to learn more about the village and the two of you, because you seem so interesting . . . and fearless."

Hinata tilted her head curiously. "What do you mean by 'fearless'?"

"No one in Suna, or the Hidden Sand Village if you prefer, ever looked at me either," Gaara informed, adding cautiously, "because they all hate me too . . . since they're all so scared of me . . ."

Before more could be said or official arrangements for the tour could be made, the proctor of the first exam—Ibiki Morino—finally arrived. Upon introducing himself, Ibiki informed everyone that the first part would consist of a written exam.

After everyone was placed in seats spread out from their team, the jounin explained the rules of this particular portion. With ten questions, each person would receive a score based on how many they answered correctly. If a genin were to receive a zero, the whole team fails. For every instant someone is caught cheating, two points will be deducted from their score. Once a score drops to zero, the entire team fails.

Now Gaara had no trouble when it came to the written exam, as he figured out the trick fairly quickly. Cheating wasn't completely forbidden, so they wanted to see how well the genin could gather information without being caught.

In the first twenty minutes of the allotted time, Gaara found every answer using his Third Eye jutsu, which was a sand eye that was connected to his actual eye and could gaze at anything or anyone. Now all he had to do was wait until the final question was asked.

But then he noticed Naruto was a struggling mess. Anyone could see that. He hadn't attempted any questions and his posture showed clear signs of defeat. Naruto looked as though he was about to have a screaming fit until Hinata placed her hand over his, and Vichy seemed to calm him down instantly. Finding their exchange quite curious—

Gaara decided to help out the nervous boy, just to make sure he continued to the next round.

Using his chakra-enhanced sand, Gaara sent one few grains toward the blonde-haired boy, not enough to cause any alarming attention. The whisker-boy lightly flinched at the sand wrapping around his arm and forcing his hand to move. Gaara watched at the loud mouth physically relaxed and even smiled at seeing barely legible answers being written for him.

But then it came to answering the tenth question.

Before it was revealed, Ibiki gave a chance for those who didn't want to answer the final question to leave, for, if answered incorrectly, they would be forbidden from taking the Chunin Exams ever again. Needless to say, the number of competing teams dropped nearly instantly as the exit became flooded with cowardly ninja. When the last of that group left, Ibiki asked if there was anyone else that wanted to leave, as it was their last opportunity.

Naruto, being the knuckle-headed ninja that he was, stood to make a declaration.

To put it simply, Naruto claimed that he wasn't going to back down from any challenge given to him. He didn't care if he got the question wrong and would be a genin for the rest of his life. He swore he would still become Hokage some day, somehow.

Noticing the newfound sense of resolve given to the remaining competitors, Ibiki announced . . .

The passing of the first exam to all the teams still left in the room.

After a few moments and shouts of confusion, the jounin calmly explained the purpose of the written exam. The first nine questions were to test their information gathering skills. To ensure everyone would have access to the correct intel, Ibiki placed two chunin that knew all the answers amongst the genin. As for the tenth question, it was used to test the contestants' determination and bravery.

"Before I speak about the second part of the exam, there is something I want to figure out first," Ibiki began in his very rough and gruff tone. "Those of you from the Hidden Sand Village: which of you has the ability to manipulate sand with your chakra?"

Those competitors from that particular village turned to look at Gaara. Every single one of them had a look of fright or a look of worry of what the red-head might do, since he was so unpredictable.

However, Gaara simply glared at the jounin, demanding, "Why does it matter?"

Speaking almost to himself, Ibiki announced, "In the history of the Chunin Exams, nobody has tried to help someone from a village that wasn't their own. The chunin who caught you didn't know whether they should deduct the points from you or from who you helped, this Naruto Uzumaki boy. My question: why did you do it?"

While every set of eyes were on him, Gaara's glare only deepened when he claimed, "His . . . friend wanted to become my . . . friend, as well. He defended her when I tried to dismiss the idea. I wanted to show them that I am considering it."

Not expecting that answer, Ibiki actually chuckled, then declared, "I believe the three of you have started what will be the greatest alliance in Chunin Exam history, and I can't wait to see where it takes you."