Gaara was walking side by side with his siblings and Baki sensei. They were nearly at Konoha's gates now. Gaara felt calm. In his previous life, they were coming to the Chunin exam with the intent of overthrowing Konoha. This time around, their goal was really to become Chunin. Him, Kankuro and Temari. As the Kazekage's children, Gaara knew the village had high expectations of the trio.
While Suna struggled with famine and accessing water, the Fourth Kazekage didn't seem to have been approached by the Sound village. They weren't invited to the Chunin exam, and Gaara wasn't even sure if they existed. But Gaara and Temari, who had taken interest in the village politics, showed their father they could both be interested in taking his role one day further down the road; hadn't heard anything regarding that village, despite having looked around for information. Which Gaara was grateful for, he didn't want to redo that mission again, nor see his father die. Rasa seemed much more concerned about another village. Yama was a newly established village, with ninjas taking the hardest missions in the background, then charging other lands high prices for them. The Kazekage hadn't asked for their help much, because Suna wasn't very rich, but that village had been invited to the exam by Konoha.
Even the mission change aside, Gaara knew the exam would be very different anyway. His interactions with his siblings were much healthier. They didn't fear him killing anyone on sight, which would include them too. They loved each other, genuinely. Even Gaara's relationship with his father was much more improved than his first life.
Gaara had worked hard to contain Shukaku and to not let him do whatever he wanted with his mind. The One-Tail beast hadn't traveled time, but Gaara and Kurama's speech once in a while seemed to have tamed him to act in their favor. Shukaku was an ally to Gaara, letting him become stronger in his abilities. And Gaara was Shukaku's ally, as he let him out of that pyramid trap and become useful to something.
As he grew up, Gaara noticed some changes in his power. His sand didn't react with as much protectiveness than it used to. It probably was due to the fact his mother was very alive. She protected him, but by raising him to become a good man and also protecting the village as a ninja. Gaara's sand was acting more like his dad's golden one. It reacted to all the jutsu Gaara tried to use with it. And Shukaku's power helped to master them.
His relationship with his dad was so much better because of that. He didn't fear him. And Rasa liked his children, in his own way. While he was rough with them often and didn't always control his temper at home after hard days in the office, especially after council meetings with the elders, he always made sure they had enough to eat when every other family was starving during hard times. Rasa sometimes skipped meals to make sure his three children didn't go to bed without eating. He also made sure they grew up to be good ninjas. Rasa trusted Baki to teach his children well, but hadn't quite foisted that responsibility off to him and been done with it.
Gaara was coming to Konoha with the intent of representing his village, but also his family. His team needed to make it to the final round. He knew his father and mother would be on their way for the third round showcase, and he wanted to make them proud. Uncle Yashamaru promised to be there as well, acting as one of the Kazekage's close guards.
They got to Konoha's gates, and showed their ID. Gaara was used to it, he had visited the Land of Fire a few times with his father, but it was the first time he wasn't part of a political delegation while visiting. The guards were a bit less welcoming considering that. Gaara could sense Konoha ensured they had more ninjas in the village to closely monitor the participants' whereabouts, considering how many ninjas from other nations were coming in.
They went in the direction of their suites they had for the duration of the exam. Their Konoha guard was unknown to Gaara. He couldn't recall his face from his previous life. If Kankuro or Temari had recognized him, they didn't let it show, and Gaara knew Temari had many friends within Konoha's ranks. Gaara dropped his bag in his bedroom, and then, Kankuro decided he was hungry and wanted to get some ramen.
"Gaara?" A voice said behind him. "I didn't know you guys were already here."
Temari looked at Gaara with a look that showed she was doubtful of whoever was calling her little brother out. Gaara turned around. He met two pairs of confused eyes, and one laughing teenager dressed in orange.
"Naruto! How are you and Arashi doing?"
Temari and Kankuro's shoulders relaxed, they recognized the team in front of them.
"You two know each other?" the girl said, Sakura if Gaara recalled correctly – it had been a while since they've seen each other, their other life, perhaps.
"Gaara, Kankuro and Temari came a few times to visit when their father had meetings with dad," Naruto explained. "And Arashi and I went to Suna as well. So yeah, we already know each other. Their father is the Kazekage, you know."
Sakura and the boy, definitely Sasuke, already knew the last part, but Gaara smiled. They didn't know who could be listening, so they were playing the game in which Gaara and his siblings pretended not to know Sakura and Sasuke, and the other team definitely had picked up on the game as well. Sakura definitely remembered them. Gaara tried not thinking of how his fight with Sasuke in the third round finished, but it was too late. He had a sudden jolt remembering the Chidori that made him bleed for the first time.
"We're here for the Chunin exam," Kankuro affirmed. "Are you guys participating?"
Sasuke suddenly seemed interested. "We are. So are our friends and Naruto's brother."
Gaara's smile grew wide. It was subtle, but it gave him the information he was after: his friends from Konoha were all participating. Arashi too, not that he was particularly interested in that compared to the fact the Konoha Twelve were all recommended for it by their sensei.
Temari had a little blush on her cheeks, but Gaara knew better than pointing it up. Kankuro was usually teasing her openly about Shikamaru, but Gaara couldn't care less about his sister's crushes.
But then, Temari took a pen and a notepad from her back pocket – since when did she have that in there? – and wrote something down, before giving it to Sasuke. Gaara was very confused. Was Sasuke her crush now? Sasuke wasn't bad looking, but Gaara knew about his sister's crush on Shikamaru. The Nara clan head had given Temari a breloque of the Nara crest when Gaara was barely born. So the situation turned out to be weird.
Sasuke took the note and read it. Sakura was trying to see, but the boy pushed her with his elbow, clearly messing with her.
"What does it say, what does it say?" Naruto said, voice raised.
Sasuke put the note in his pocket, rolling his eyes at his teammates' attitude. "Nothing important."
Sakura seemed to be starting a staring contest with Temari, but Temari just burst out laughing. Sakura and Naruto weren't the only curious out there. Kankuro's face indicated the same. Sasuke, to end the teasing, claimed it was time to meet with Kakashi sensei. Both teams went in completely different directions.
Once at the Ramen restaurant, Kankuro asked Temari about the note.
"I gave it to Sasuke, but it could have been any of them. I'll tell you why later."
Once they settled in for the night, Temari knocked at Gaara's door. Kankuro was with her.
"Now, will you tell me what your note is about?" Kankuro told her.
Temari talked with her voice down, "I just let him know I wanted us to meet, and by us, I mean Naruto's team, and his friends that we know by you know what. To catch up. That's all. That's why Sasuke had so much fun teasing the others, I think. He probably wanted it to look like a crush, since Sakura, Ino and probably other girls are after him. I just hope Shikamaru wasn't around."
Gaara made a faint smile. It had worked on Kankuro, and even confused Gaara. So any ninja passing by and eavesdropping would have fallen for it.
Gaara bit his lips and whispered, "That guy who planned to kill Father in the other life, do you think he's still alive? He was from Konoha, do you think Kakashi and Nara thought of that?"
"I don't know, but Father will travel here in something like a month or a little bit more, and with Mother as well. I hope nothing happens to them, even though I trust Uncle Yashamaru to protect them. Father had guards as well with him and they were all dead. But since we haven't heard of any plan to overtake anyone, I doubt someone would go after Father just like that."
Gaara believed his sister. He had also shown interest in politics, so he hoped if something was worrying, his father would tell him about it. Though, it would be unusual for Rasa to share with his family his concerns. But he didn't seem more grumpy than usual, so hopefully, it was a good sign.