Sasuke's twin sister, But Neji's first love

Identify Yourself: Powerful New Rivals

Our eyes stayed locked for several long seconds. His gaze was cold—emptier than Sasuke's had ever been—and yet something behind it felt... unstable. Dangerous.

"You're all an embarrassment," Gaara said again, eyes never leaving Kankuro. "Have you forgotten the reason we came here?"

Kankuro swallowed hard, stumbling over his words.

"I know. I mean, they challenged us. They started the whole thing, really. See, here's what happened—" he began quickly, trying to smooth things over.

"Shut up. Or I'll kill you," Gaara said coldly.

Kankuro stiffened and gulped. "Right. I was totally out of line. I—I'm sorry, Gaara. Totally out of line."

Gaara turned to look back at Sasuke and me, though his eyes remained fixed on me. "I'm sorry for any trouble he caused."

I gave a nod as sand surrounded Gaara, making him vanish and reappear beside Kankuro and the blonde girl.

"Let's go. We didn't come here to play games," Gaara said flatly.

"Alright, sure, I get it," Kankuro replied immediately, starting to follow.

"Hold on! Hey!" Sakura called out after the three sand ninja, making them stop and turn around. "I can tell by your headbands that you're from the Village Hidden in the Sand. Of course, the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind are allies—but no shinobi can enter another's village without permission. So state your purpose—and it better be good."

"Ugh, forehead, just let them leave. Clearly, they have permission—no Jonin or ANBU are chasing them down. I'm sure they're well aware of the alliance history. No need to give a lecture," I snapped.

"Really, listen to your friend, Pinky," the female sand ninja said with a smirk.

"Tch. Me and Pinky? Friends? Please," I muttered.

The sand ninja kept smirking. "Been living under a rock or something? You really don't know what's going on, do you? Like your 'pretty' friend said, we've got permission." She pulled out a badge. "Of course we're Hidden Sand genin. Our home is the Land of Wind, and we're here for the Chunin Exams. Get the picture?"

"The Chunin Exams? What's that? I've never heard of no Chunin Exams. Believe it!" Naruto piped up.

"Oh, I believe it all right—believe you're totally clueless," she replied.

"Pfft," I let out a small amused laugh.

"Aww, Ryuko, don't be so mean!" Naruto whined.

"So that's the name of the girl my brother took an interest in," the blonde girl teased.

I jumped down from the tree, landing in front of her and keeping eye contact. "Well, I saw you checking out my brother earlier. Can I get the name of the girl who took an interest in him?" I asked, amused.

"The name's Temari. And I think you and I are gonna get along just fine," she mused.

I smirked and gave her a nod.

"Why are you being friendly with her? They were just giving us problems," Sakura said, clearly annoyed.

"No. They were giving you problems. I just watched from the sidelines," I shot back.

Temari and her brothers turned around and started walking away. Sasuke jumped down from the tree, landing beside me.

"You. Identify yourself," Sasuke called out.

The three stopped. Temari turned around with a slight blush and a finger at her bottom lip. "You mean me?"

"No. The guy with the gourd on his back," Sasuke replied, brushing her off.