Gaara looked up as Temari entered his office. He spoke as she approached “Tell me again why I became Kazekage at my age?”
“Because you’re stupid.” Came her prompt reply.
“And here I thought it was because I’m bat-shit crazy.”
“We’re shinobi. Bat-shit crazy is a given.” Temari sat on a corner of his desk. “So, what brought on this introspection of yours?”
“Speaking of shit.” Gaara handed her a scroll.
“What’s this?”
“The list of Konoha genin coming for the Chuunin Exam.”
Temari read the list and her eyes were wide with horror when she looked up at her brother. “We’re going to be knee deep in it when the jounin sensei see this!”
“That was my thought.” Gaara leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face. “Yet, they cannot be denied the opportunity to advance.”
“No. It’s not fair to them.”
“What do you suggest?”
Temari looked at her baby brother. “We need Baki.”
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Gaara walked over to Tsunade and bowed slightly out of respect. “Welcome to Suna, Tsunade-sama.”
Tsunade smiled at the young Kazekage. “Thank you, Gaara-sama.” She looked around the room and raised an eyebrow, “We’re having a private meeting?”
“Yes.”
Gaara gestured to a sofa beneath a window and when she sat down, he settled in a nearby chair. “There is a small issue with two of your genin who will be in the Exams.”
Tsunade’s face grew dark with anger. She knew exactly who he was talking about. “They have the right…”
Gaara held up a hand. “Peace, Tsunade-sama. I agree, they have the right but they are…superior to the rest of the genin.”
Tsunade stared at him suspiciously. “And…?”
“And we’ve come up with a solution, if you are willing to listen?”
Tsunade stared at the young red-head before her. His green eyes were earnest. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. “I’m willing.”
Gaara smiled “With the help of my sensei, my siblings and my jounin, this is what we’ve come up with…”
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Naruto bounced excitedly as he headed towards the Suna Arena with Kakashi, Sakura and the other genin teams from Konoha. “It was really great seeing Gaara, Temari and Kankuro. I wanted to talk more with Gaara but he said that he had to get some sleep.”
Sakura nodded. “They all look great. Especially Gaara. According to Temari, he’s able to get a full night’s sleep, even with all his duties. But she still worries about him.”
“That’s a Big Sister’s Prerogative, I believe.” Said Kakashi as he slouched along behind them. His fingers twitched as if missing his beloved books but Tsunade had threatened to break every bone in his hands if she found out he was reading “that perverted disgusting trash” in public while they were in Suna.
Naruto and Sakura laughed.
Kakashi gently rapped them on the head to get their attention. “Listen, before we go inside, I want you to remember something: Look underneath the underneath.”
A pair of blue and a pair of green eyes looked at him. Worry was evident.
“Should we be watching for something?”
Kakashi eye-smiled at them. “No, I just want you to be prepared for whatever you may hear or see.” He received two identical frowns. Which he ignored. “Come along now. You don’t want to be late.”
“Hypocrite!”
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Gaara stood before the crowd and spoke. His voice was deep and mellow causing the audience to listen closely. He spoke of how pleased Suna was to host the Exams and how proud each country must be of their genin who came to the Exams. He asked that each of the genin do their very best but that they were not to be ashamed if they didn’t succeed. Then he said something that surprised many in the crowd. “It was decided that there will be some changes to those who are competing. To explain the situation, I present my own sensei, Baki.”
The tall man stood and bowed solemnly to the Kazekage. He stepped forward and spoke to the audience. “All of you have seen the list of genin due to compete this exam. But the decision has been made to remove two of the people from the list.”
Sakura sat straighter and leaned forward. Naruto, who had learned to pay attention to his teammate’s body language, gave her a worried look then listened harder to Baki.
“We are removing Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto from the list of genin.”
Shocked murmurs reverberated throughout the arena.
Naruto’s face went from worried to bewildered to hurt. He started to rise to his feet in protest but Sakura reached out and grabbed him by the arm. “Sit down! Underneath the underneath!” She muttered to him. Naruto sat down, his face still showing his anxiety.
“Because it is well known that these two genin are skilled far and above all of the other genin who are also here to be tested, we invoked the rules set by the Eighth Kage Summit.” Baki glanced around the arena and even though they were seated far away, he managed to catch the eyes of both Naruto and Sakura. “In that summit, it was agreed that if sixteen jounin, who have been of that rank five years or more, agree that a genin is skilled enough for promotion the rise in rank will be granted.
“In the cases of Gaara, Haruno Sakura, Kankuro, Temari and Uzumaki Naruto, the requisite sixteen jounin have been found and have agreed that they be granted the rank of chuunin.
“Congratulations to all five of you.”
Naruto sat wide-eyed then began to grin. Sakura smiled and laughed. They both leapt to their feet and hugged each other while cheers erupted around them. The pair turned and grabbed Kakashi and hugged him too. Much to Kakashi’s obvious mortification.
Baki allowed the cheers to go on for a minute more then raised his hand. The arena grew quieter and he spoke again. “It was during this process that it was brought up that these five shinobi are capable of being jounin.”
Both Sakura and Naruto gasped. Kakashi tugged them back down into their seats.
“Normally the decision to grant jounin status is left up to each village but the Eight Kage Summit also set down rules for a variation. If it is brought forth during a Chuunin Exam that there are genin or chuunin who should become jounin, then all jounin, active duty, ANBU and retired, foreign and domestic, who are in the Host City, must decide if the chuunin are capable of being jounin then voting to grant them that rank with a majority decision.
“It has been decided that Gaara, Haruno Sakura, Kankuro, Temari and Uzumaki Naruto will go through this process.
“It is requested that all jounin please report to the Mission Office by the end of the day to receive information on this process. And how the process will take place.
“The Genin Testing and Trials will start tomorrow. The Testing and Trials of the jounin candidates will begin when everything is organized.
“Thank you.”
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“We’re gonna be jounin, Sakura!”
“Only if we pass the test.”
“Killjoy.” I love you anyway.
“Idiot.” I love you too, idiot.
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The Suna chuunin stared around the mission room. He’d never seen so many active duty jounin in same room at the same time in his life. Let alone foreign jounin. And the ANBU were freaky. Masked faces appearing in the room, snatching up the paperwork then disappearing. And then there was the third group.
He looked at his partner for the day and said to the kunoichi, “I didn’t know we had this many geezers.”
He yelped as a senbon and a kunai appeared on the desk between his fingers.
The kunoichi looked at him with an expression that clearly said she thought he was the biggest moron she’d ever come across. “I guess you’ve never heard the saying ‘beware of the old person who survived a young person’s profession.’”
“I have now!”
The kunoichi rolled her eyes and stood up. She walked around the mission desk and approached two of the “geezers.” She slipped a senbon and a kunai into two wrinkled hands that made the weapons disappear. She kissed the couple on their cheeks. “Hi, Grandpa. Hi, Grandma.”
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Naruto flopped across the bed and was quickly joined by Sakura.
“My brain hurts.”
“Your brain always hurts. And you want to be Hokage!”
Naruto grunted.
“The written portion of my test was hard. But the interview was worse. I think one of my interviewers works for Suna’s T & I.” said Sakura.
Naruto propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at her. “You had a written test?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t. It was three hours of answering questions and demonstrating stuff.”
Sakura didn’t reply for a moment. Naruto learned differently. And had to be tested differently. She’d come to that realization just after her talk with Kakashi about Sasuke and it was something that she’d started discussing with Tsunade, Kakashi, Iruka and Shikamaru. If Naruto was going to eventually become Hokage, he’d have to absorb a lot of different and critical information in a short period of time. She knew he was capable learning but the format in which it was going to have to be presented to him would have to change. They’d already come up with a few ideas and from what Naruto just said, apparently someone dropped a word or two in someone else’s ear about how to test him.
She reached out and ran her fingers lightly through his hair. “Don’t worry about it. They probably knew that you don’t do as well on written tests. So that’s why they did you differently from me.”
“Sakura…”
“Hmmm.”
“I want to become Hokage. I really, really want to be that…but how can I when…when… Do I have a learning disability?”
Sakura sat up. While she was surprised that he knew the description, she didn’t want him to assume that there was anything negative about it. She looked him straight in the eye. “Now you listen to me Uzumaki Naruto!” Her stern words made Naruto sit up and look at her. “There is no, I repeat NO shame in the way you learn. Yeah, it wasn’t figured out while you were in the Academy and I can’t tell you how hard Iruka beats himself up about that. But, we now know how you learn. And we’ll help you. We love you and we’re going to help you become the best Hokage ever! Do you understand me!”
Tears welled up in Naruto’s eyes and he tried to blink them away but one escaped to be wiped away by Sakura. His next words were more than heartfelt and Sakura knew it.
“Thank you.”
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The Chuunin Exams were over and at least one genin from every nation became a chuunin. Gaara congratulated all of those who made chuunin and praised those who did not for their efforts and encouraged them to work harder and learn more for the next Exam. Then Gaara had Baki come to the forefront once again.
The arena was silent. It would have been Standing Room Only since all the jounin had to be there but all the ANBU and most of the active-duty jounin opted to perch along the walls and even the roof, leaving the seats to the retirees and the civilians. Everyone there knew why Baki was going to speak but what he was going to say was unknown to everyone except the jounin.
“I am pleased to announce that Gaara, Haruno Sakura, Kankuro, Temari and Uzumaki Naruto have passed the first stage of their Jounin Exam.”
A roar erupted. Hundreds cheered nearly deafening everyone.
Baki held up a hand, calling for silence. He got it…eventually.
“Now they must demonstrate their abilities. All of the eligible jounin have been given ten markers. Five white and five black. White is a vote of yes and Black is a vote of no. Proctors have boxes marked with each jounin candidate’s name. Place your deciding marker inside each box. Do you understand?” Baki got his affirmative. Then the five young chuunin walked out into the middle of the arena. They were greeted by cheers. Baki held up his hand once again. “Erect the Shields!” He looked down on to the five. “Don’t kill each other. BEGIN!”
The five young shinobi utterly destroyed the arena. What they did was later spoken about with awe by those who witnessed it and envy by those who didn’t.
It started out with Naruto and Sakura vs Gaara, Kankuro and Temari but after several minutes of combat, Sakura and Temari swirled close to each other, punching and kicking. Temari whispered something to Sakura who gave her an evil grin.
They turned on the three boys.
Kankuro yelped as he was tossed on his ass but he recovered and threw a handful of sand at his sister’s face. Naruto cackled with glee and Gaara smiled as they joined with Kankuro to go against the two kunoichi.
The crowd loved it. Sakura could see young kunoichi rushing out of their seats and shoving aside others to gather at the railing along the arena. She saw that Temari could see the same thing. And the pair more than held their own against the other three.
And then the battle changed again. Gaara caught Naruto’s eye and that pair attacked the other three. “I’m getting the short end of the stick here!” yelled Kankuro.
“Suck it up, buttercup!” Naruto yelled back.
And the insults started. When it got to the point where parents and sensei were covering children’s ears, Baki called a halt to the fight.
The five looked at each other and they laughed. A group hug ensued despite the blood and dirt they were all covered with. They turned to the crowd and waved.
“Proctors, collect the votes.” The arena went silent as the proctors collected the voting markers from the jounin. The boxes were then brought before the assembled Kage who opened the boxes. They peered inside each box and ran their hands through as if looking for something. They consulted briefly and the Mizukage stepped forward.
You could have heard a pin drop on sand.
Terumi Mei smiled “The decision is unanimous. You five are now jounin. Congratulations!”
The subsequent roar from the crowd nearly blew off the roof. The newly minted jounin hugged and held each other close for a long minute then they waved to the crowd.
Temari spoke first. “I can see the medic-nin getting agitated. They want their hands on us.”
Kankuro sighed “I think I need their hands.”
“Ugh,” Sakura tried to dust herself off. “I need a shower.”
“We all do.” Murmured Gaara.
Naruto didn’t speak but his ear to ear grin spoke for him as he bounced along with the others as they walked to the side of the arena.
Kakashi was waiting for them.
“I’m so proud of all of you. You’ve all grown so much.”