moonlight

Chapter 19 - Chunin, what?

The ninjas got shocked faces and Kankuro started stuttering. "G-Gaara..."

Tsuki narrowed her eyes. 'Where did he come from? I didn't even notice him.'

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"Why do you think we came all the way here to the Leaf Village?" Gaara asked darkly.

"P-please listen to me, Gaara. They started it..." Kankuro tried to excuse himself.

"Shut up." the redhead demanded.

Tsuki looked at Kankuro and saw that he started sweating. 'Who is this guy? Even the cat dude is scared of him.'

"I'll kill you." Gaara threatened while narrowing his eyes.

Tsuki felt a pearl of sweat roll down the side of her face. The stranger's stare made her uncomfortable as she gulped nervously, trying not to show it. 'This guy... he's weird... He is even threatening the other guy.'

"U-understood, I was wrong." Kankuro stuttered, turning to Tsuki and the others. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."

The redheaded ninja turned to Sasuke. "I'm sorry about that." Then he disappeared, leaving sand where he once stood at and landed in front of his teammates.

He stared at Tsuki for a while and she stared back, his gaze uncomfortable for her, but she didn't waver, catching Gaara off guard.

'She is clearly scared but isn't looking away at all. Hm, interesting.' Gaara thought.

"Let's go. We didn't come here to play around." he said and started walking off.

Sakura snapped and walked to them a bit. "Hold on!" she stopped them.

"What is it?" the girl among them asked.

"Judging from your headbands, you're ninjas from the Village Hidden in the Sand, right? Without question, the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind are allied nations. But it isn't allowed to freely go to another village! State your purpose here!" the pink-haired ninja yelled.

The Suna ninjas turned to her, the girl scoffed.

"Sakura, they are here for the Chunin Exams... I thought at least you would've known that..." Tsuki said, sweatdropping at her cluelessness.

The foreign female smirked, holding her permit up. "It's good to see that there is someone who isn't living under a rock. Here's my permit! As you say, we're Sand Village genins from the Land of Wind. We indeed came to this village to take the Chunin Exam."

"Chunin Exam...?" Naruto asked clueless about what they were talking about. "What is the Chunin Exam anyways?"

"You really don't know anything, do you?" the Suna female taunted.

Konohamaru spoke up. "Naruto-nii, if you pass the exam, you can become a chunin."

Naruto beamed excitedly. "I see! Then, maybe I'll try taking them!"

Gaara scoffed and turned around, walking off. Sasuke jumped from the tree and yelled back at him. "Hey! You there! What's your name?"

The girl turned around, blushing a little. "Huh? M-me?"

"No, the guy with the gourd!" Sasuke said, pointing at Gaara.

'But they just called him by his name Sasuke...' the Takeshi thought.

"I'm Gaara of the Desert." the redhead told him. "I am interested in you as well... and that girl... What's your name?"

Sasuke smirked and then faced Gaara with a serious look. "Sasuke Uchiha and that girl is off-limits."