"What?" Naruko asked. "I don't think I heard you right, can you say that again?"
Gaara sighed. "The Sand and Sound are planning to attack the Leaf. At the Chuunin Exam Finals in fact."
"Wait, why are you telling me this? You're jeopardizing you're whole village." Naruko said.
"Naruko, I've changed a lot since I came here. After all, I was still unstable due to the annoying Ichibi. But I realized something. Why should I defend my home village, when instead of trying to help me, they simply treated me like a pariah? I come to the Leaf, and you, a stranger at the time, help me without anything in return. What is wrong with my village? It got so messed up. I don't even know what to think, I'm so conflicted right now! I can't even think straight!" Gaara said. "I'm not even sure about almost everything! I don't know what happened to my village! I don't know why they would betray their alliance with the Leaf for a weak, new ally! I don't know why my father even had me when he doesn't even love me! I don't know anything! And all of this is coming to my mind now because of that damn beast I hate messing with my head and making me become a psychopath due to the fact that no one in my village ever reached out to me! I just don't know what to do! I don't know if I can trust or be sure of anything anymore! I don't even know who I am!" He said, grabbing his hair and sitting down on the branch frustrated.
I sat down next to him and cupped his cheek. "Gaara," I said calmly.
He looked up. "The only thing I'm sure of is you. Because you are the one thing that hasn't changed since I met you." He sighed. "God, if any one in my village saw me right now, they would think I've gone even more insane. I'm just so lost, and I'm acting totally out of character, which this time, is a good thing. Hell, even my siblings are wondering what's up with me."
"Gaara, I'm sorry I've caused you all of this trouble. I feel awful, I mean, look at me! I'm tearing you away from your village and family!" Naruko said.
"Naruko, somethings are just meant to happen." He said, looking out into the forest. "I can't help but think this is one of those things. Since our first kiss, even though it was accident, I felt a connection to you that I can't shake off. At first, after you left, I thought the weird pain in my chest was from the seal. But it wasn't until I actually spent a longer time away from you, days after the seal was placed, did I realize why my chest felt weird. I missed you, and when I saw you being... killed... I couldn't help but feel the most furious rage I had ever felt, even more so than anything from the Ichibi, building up inside of me. That moment, that very moment, was when I realized my feelings for you were actually my first ever feelings of love."
"Gaara." Naruko whispered.
"My life seems to have taken a turn for the better. I mean, I no longer have a demon screaming in my head, my siblings are getting more accepting of me, and the girl I am attracted to loves me back. So why would I give that up for the village that hates me, or my father that hates me?" He said, looking Naruko in the eyes.
"So... what are you saying?" Naruko asked.
"What I'm saying is, do you think you have room for one more Leaf ninja?" Gaara asked.
Naruko smiled brightly. "Yes, I definitely think that there is enough room." She said, hugging Gaara. "But are you sure about this? I mean, it will be a big difference."
"Yes, I want a different life. I get to start over here. I get another chance, as long as I am accepted by Hokage-sama." He said. "Besides, how could I get a better fresh start than getting to be with the girl I love?"
"Well, you shouldn't say that, my family is rather... interesting." Naruko said. "Why don't you come over for dinner and meet my family after the Second Exam?"
"Sounds good." He said.
"Well, you should probably get back to your team, and I have to get my from the various spots on trees. So, I'll see you later I guess." Naruko said.
"Yeah, I guess." Gaara said, standing up.
Gaara jumped off through the trees back towards where his team was. Naruko stood up and jumped through the trees until she climbed up to where Naruto was nailed to the tree. She got him down and took him to where she had put Shion. After getting enough water from the air, she splashed it on their faces, waking them up. She then explained everything to them, leaving out the private moment her and Gaara had where he figured out everything.
"Well, I guess we should go get ourselves a scroll then!" Naruto said. Naruko and Shion nodded, they really did have to do that.
"Let's go." Naruko said.
They jumped around the forest until they saw a team from the village hidden in the rain. They looked at each other and nodded.
Naruto jumped down in front of the team, his Sharingan whirling. His the team looked into his eyes and immediately fell into q trance. Naruto simply stood there, his Sharingan locked on the team as Shion and Naruko jumped down and started searching the team for their scroll, where they promptly found a Earth scroll.
"Alright! Now we can get to the tower!" Naruto cheered, releasing the team from the genjutsu as Naruko and Shion knocked them out.
"Alright, considering the angle the sun as at from here, and that the sun rises from the west, that means that the tower should be that way." Shion said, pointing away from them. Naruko and Naruto nodded and they all started running towards the tower.
'I wonder if anyone is there yet.' Naruko thought. 'Maybe Gaara will be there...' She blushed as she thought about when she kissed Gaara.
Shion glanced at her teammates and noticed Naruko had a blush. 'Heheh, as soon as we get to the tower, I'm gonna interrogate her.' She thought, gaining an evil grin.
She kept looking at Naruko and the girl zoned back in, and noticed her friend. Naruko froze and got a nervous look on her face as she looked anywhere but her friend's face.
Naruto was oblivious to this and just kept continuing on as earlier.
They reached the tower and went through one of the doors. Once getting inside, they saw the inscription on the wall, and figured out to open their scrolls. Once they did, a poof of smoke appeared, and Jiraiya was left in its wake.
"Hey gakis! What's up?" He asked in a tired voice, rubbing his forehead.
"Tou-chan? Is something wrong?" Naruko asked, gaining a worried look.
"'Huh? Yeah, a bit. You see, me and kaa-san were called into a council meeting, where they asked her to be the new Hokage. But she said she wouldn't, and that I should do it since it's my fault a new Hokage is needed, and the council won't stop riding my ass about it!" He said.
"They want you to be the new Hokage?" Naruko asked, her eyes widening.
"Yeah, but I don't want to be." he said.
"Tou-chan. Let's face it, for now, there are only two options for Hokage, you or kaa-san. But I don't get why you or kaa-san wouldn't even want to do it." Naruko said.
"Naruko, your mom doesn't want to do it because she's afraid of sending the people she cares for on a mission that will get them killed, which I get. But I don't want to do it, since it just isn't where I feel I belong. I'm meant to head the spy network." He said.
"Uncle! Do we pass or not?" Shion demanded.
"Well, since you guys are in the tower, and have both scrolls, and it's only been one day, yes you pass. But did you gakis really have to call me here at 11 o'clock at night?" He asked.
"Yatta! We passed!" Naruto yelled, pumping his fist in the air.
"Alright gakis, I'm going back to bed. See ya later." Jiraiya said, yawning and shunshining away.
Team Seven high fived and were directed to their own rooms, the girls sharing one while Naruto got his own. Shion and Naruko changed into their nightwear and went to sleep.
Naruko groaned and rolled over, the sun hitting her face as she begrudgingly woke up. She rubbed her eyes and got out of bed, heading towards the bathroom. She was still kind of out of it, as she stumbled down the hall, trying to find the bathroom she hadn't bothered to look for the night before.
She slammed into someone with an 'oomph'. She would have fallen on her butt, but who ever she ran into caught her. She looked up through her blurry eyes, and saw a mop of red hair. Blinking away the blurriness, she saw Gaara.
"Gaara." She whispered and kissed him.
Gaara blushed as he realized that since she had just gotten out of bed, much like himself, there was only a thin sheet of fabric separating her rather sizable chest from his.
"Gaara, you're team passed!" Naruko said.
"Yeah, we did, and I'm guessing you guys did as well?" Gaara said.
"Yeah." Naruko replied, looking down. Then she saw that she wasn't dressed and that her shirt had slipped rather low. She blushed beet red and pulled her shirt up and crossed her arms over her chest awkwardly. "uh... do you know where the bathroom is?"
Gaara chuckled. "2 doors down, on the right." He said.
"Thanks." She said, running down the hall to the bathroom to escape her embarrassing situation and hoping not to have another one.
After changing back into her normal attire, Naruko made her way to the dining hall. She entered and found her team sitting with the Sand Siblings. She got some food and walked over to their table, sitting down next to Gaara. She noticed one other team enter the room, one from Konoha. Actually, it was that team that had a loudmouth with a dog, a quiet boy, and the only girl that didn't piss her off when she met her class on the last day.
Naruko 'I wonder if more people from our class will make it through, like Team 13, Team 10, or even that team they had met on the way in, with the strange bushy eyebrow guy, serious guy, and that girl who likes my mom and sat next to me.'
Team 8 walked over to them with their trays with food on them. While they were wary of the Sand crew, due to the fact that another team from their class was sitting with them, meant they must have been okay.
The teams ate their breakfast, sharing casual conversation with each other and all had the same thing on their minds.
Just who would make it to the tower on time?