Gaara left the written exam building with all the other ninjas that had passed it, trying not to smile at all those familiar faces that he was not supposed to know. This time, Naruto hadn't made a big speech, and a lot of teams had left at the last question. Gaara calculated, if the second part was the same test as in his first life, and if exactly half of the teams made it, there were just enough spots for the Konoha 12 and the sand sibling to make it to the tower, and that left only three other teams with a spot. Because they had hung out a few times in this life, Gaara wished one of the team to be Uzumaki Arashi's.
On his way to the Forest whereabouts, Gaara wished good luck to Naruto and Arashi, whom he crossed path with, before joining his own siblings. The proctor was about to tell them the rules. Gaara looked at the enormous arena. He had a feeling he knew what to expect. Only, this time, Gaara wasn't feeling murderous, so obtaining a scroll might take them a bit more time. He wasn't sure Team Baki would have the record for the fastest run in the Forest of Death, this time. His plan was more to make it to the tower on day 1 than killing anyone. They just needed one team's scroll. Gaara's only wish was that he wouldn't have to steal it from a friend.
Kankuro's behavior gained Gaara's attention. He was making suspicious eyes at a team from Yama, the hidden village in the mountains.
"Stop staring," Gaara whispered, wishing only his brother to hear.
"Pfft! You telling me that staring is creepy? Temari, did you hear that? Thank god he stared at us for twelve fucking years!"
Temari shook her head. "You two, please shut it. We'll miss the info that Anko is about to give, and I don't want to be disqualified because you didn't shut up."
The proctor was more busy trying to judge the contestants than talking. Kankuro decided he hadn't finished talking yet.
"You already know the proctor's name? She didn't even say it!"
Gaara realized Temari had proctored chunin exams in her first life. Surely, they had worked together at some point. Gaara decided Anko wasn't an interesting topic, and decided he wouldn't let go that easily about his brother staring at other teams.
"But seriously, what's with that village?" Gaara pointed at one of the few teams representing it. "Has Father ever talked about them to you?"
Temari bit her lips. "Other than that they could ruin us if we aren't careful? No."
Kankuro whispered, "It creeps me out, the girl there, she looks like someone I know, but I just can't point out who. But she appears younger than what I'm thinking, I'm sure. The guy holding her hand, I have the same deja-vu feeling. I bet they are a couple, which seems fucking weird. And I'm probably not the only one finding that their teammate doesn't appear friendly!"
Gaara frowned. "Someone you've seen? Can you be more specific?"
"I don't know, I don't know when, which time," Kankuro said, alluding to which life. "But I have a feeling we should avoid them."
Temari nodded, before motioning him to shut up. Anko was finally giving a speech about the rules. Gaara noted nothing had changed. Same old Forest of Death rules. But as the proctor talked, Gaara couldn't help drifting his attention to that trio they needed to avoid. Facing that team in the forest was their greatest chance of failure. They looked as much of a threat as Gaara was back in his psycho state. If they needed to avoid them, as well as all their friends, the list of teams to steal a scroll from was very limited. If the only teams having the opposite scroll to what Team Baki had were their friends', they wouldn't have the choice but eliminate them from the competition.
The team starting the closest to Gaara's team seemed to be Naruto's. Gaara had noticed Sasuke hiding his scroll, and he had the same one as the sand sibling. It was useless to go fight with them. Gaara wasn't sure which other team was the other side of his team. It was either the menacing team, Rock Lee's team, or another team from that village Gaara didn't know. Could they risk going straight to the team they wanted to avoid?
"Which way are we going?" Gaara asked, explaining the possible teams surrounding him.
"Do you know which team is next to Naruto's? If it's not a friend and they possibly have the opposite scroll…" Kankuro said.
"Let me remind you that Naruto has the Earth scroll, so we'd be two teams in the same area looking for the Heaven one."
"But I also wish to avoid those creepy guys from Yama. With all your staring, Kankuro, they seem to have targeted us," Temari said. "We're better not running into their direction, or at least not yet. Besides, if we need to team up with someone, I'd rather it be Naruto's team. I don't know how strong they are right now, but we know of their strong potential."
Kankuro seemed to think for a second, and decided, "OK, you're right. We should advance deeper in the forest, but leaning toward the left. We're bound to meet other teams than Naruto's on our way to the tower.
Temari, as the oldest, approved the plan and they started executing it. Their starting point was very different from their previous life, so Gaara didn't really know what to expect of this area of the forest.
Gaara followed his siblings inside the woods. His objective was to reach the tower the fastest he could. Surely they'd see other teams around there. The fastest they made it, the best it was. And Gaara didn't care how long it took them, but hoped to finish the task within the day, ideally before sunset.
By the end of the afternoon, they had avoided a few traps previously set up in the field, and crossed paths with Naruto's team, who had gotten their new scroll from the team left of them. Which meant it was useless to continue in that direction, so Temari decided they could go to the right, and just hope to be closer to the tower than the team they wanted to avoid, or be behind them. The forest was enormous, they couldn't just run into them. At this point, Kankuro was getting impatient to get the job done. Shikaku was screaming at Gaara to just go to the nearest team and end them, but Gaara had a bad feeling. What if it was Team Creepy (it was how Temari referred to them now), would Gaara be able to murder them?
"Tem, Gaara, you're doubting your abilities. We were known to be the hardest team to beat the last time. I know Gaara is much nicer than he was, but if we need to, it's our job as ninjas to kill. Why are you so scared of those guys? Did Father say something about them you didn't tell me?"
"No, that's exactly why I'm worried, Father doesn't know anything, other than they're trying to ruin us. We don't know where the village is, nor who their leader is because Father hasn't met with them himself, or even what affinities those ninjas have. The only thing we know is Yama is filled with assassins. They're called for secret missions and kills, Kankuro. So, yes, I'm worried, because they probably don't train weak genins."
Gaara gulped. "Temari is right. We better be careful, Kankuro. I know you want to prove yourself, but –"
Kankuro, walking in between Temari and Gaara, put an arm in front of both his siblings to stop them from walking.
"What?" Temari asked, her tone still loud because she was upset.
Kankuro immediately pressed his index against his lips, meaning clearly not to talk. Gaara scanned the area, immediately thinking of possible danger surrounding them. Was it a monster, another team, a trap just waiting for them to set it?
He noticed in the distance a team – the one they wanted so badly to avoid facing. The problem was, if they started walking the other way, they'd run into Naruto's team again. If they wanted to go around, they'd lose time.
Kankuro stared at them once more. "Oh shit!" he exclaimed while trying to keep his voice to the lowest. "Those two guys that look familiar… They look like Lady Chiyo's late son and his wife. She has a picture of them in her house. I noticed the frame during a puppetry lesson and asked about them. You were right by calling them creepy."
"Kankuro, Sasori's parents have been dead for years, they were already dead when I was born," Temari replied. "They were killed by the White Fang. He was the father of Naruto's sensei, and I'm pretty sure he died when Kakashi sensei was a kid. Lady Chiyo was mad she couldn't kill him herself. So that can't be Sasori's parents."
Gaara looked at his sister. How did she know all this? But it wasn't important. They needed to avoid that team, whoever they were. Even if Gaara was confused about all of it, he trusted his siblings' guts. They needed to keep themselves to their initial plan. Avoiding them, at all cost. But suddenly, as they were making a big way around, the three ninjas appeared in front of them.
"Kazekage's children, what a surprise! We were just waiting for you guys to show up!" One of them said, the one not looking like any of Sasori's parents. He then looked specifically at Kankuro. "I have a feeling you are carrying puppets, am I right? I'd like to see you use them, because I've seen them before. And I want to test out how weak the next potential Kazekage is."
Gaara froze. What else did that guy know about them? How did he gain that information? Gaara hid how creeped out he felt.
Temari looked at him in disbelief. "Who are you?"
"I'm not going to tell you who I am. But I know killing the three of you shouldn't be hard. You should be a lot easier to manage than when I fought the Third. And I killed him."
Gaara gulped. Which third Kage was he talking about? The third Kazekage was dead for years. The third Hokage was retired, but still alive. He didn't know much yet about the other ones in this life. He tried focussing and then Kankuro paled, coming to the conclusion much quicker than Gaara.
"Sasori of the Red Sand."
Gaara's heart started pounding. Of course, Sasori would know about who they were, and Kankuro being a puppet master. They were in big trouble. An Akatsuki had infiltrated the Chunin exam.