Of Loyalty and Morals Chapter 3
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Chapter 3: On to Konoha
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The four teams divided their time in the week before they left in two ways; they focused on finding out more about Konoha, Orochimaru and his Otokagure, and on training for the exams. Everything that Suna’s intelligence knew, Vala knew as well and Daniel scoured the library in search of mentions of Konoha. They were still glad when they started off to their destination, knowing that they could only gather so much information away from the source. Though they probably couldn't gain as much information about Otokagure in Konoha, they still had a good chance in finding out something.
As always, the nine dimensional travelers enjoyed seeing more of the world that they found themselves on. It wasn't the first time that they had left Suna, having gone on missions before, but this was a new direction for most of the group. Team Sekka and Team Toshiro one had traveled the furthest of the nine, as Iwa was rather far away, but Team Toshiro two had also traveled far for the same amount of time.
Konoha reminded Jack a lot of America and all of the other tree filled planets that they had gone to. There were a lot of trees in the Fire Country, tall, thick trees that had to be centuries old. Their joining Suna was completely by chance, but it was for a good reason. Yes, Jack would have preferred to live somewhere like in the Fire Country, as much as he complained about the view, he always did prefer trees over sand, but the people were good in Suna. Oh, not the politicians, Jack thought that the Kazekage was a bit of an ass, but people like Temari and Gaara and Toshiro were the reason why they decided to stay in Suna. Jack wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Daniel sneezed the whole way to Konoha before the antihistamines kicked in. “It’s just like old times,” Jack commented.
“Oh, sure, I love to sneeze my brains out,” Daniel dryly commented before sneezing once more.
“You were right, this is amusing,” Vala said as she watched Daniel intently. She still managed to leap from tree to tree while doing so, which halfway amazed Jack. But then, Vala had taken to Chakra manipulation like duck to water.
Daniel also was managing somehow to travel by tree and not to kill himself. That was mostly because Jack traveled right next to him and kept him from slipping and killing himself. All of the Suna born refused to travel by tree, but Jack’s team especially made use of the large branches.
“I don’t see how you three can stand it,” Temari commented one day when they paused for a meal.
“Stand what?” Jack asked. He jerked a thumb towards Daniel. “If you mean Danny’s sneezing, we got used to that years ago.”
“No, I mean traveling by tree,” Temari said. “Instead of going by solid ground.”
“Trust me, it’s something that I normally wouldn’t have considered, but it’s a good thing to do with trees like this,” Jack answered. “Less things to disturb on a tree branch, so it's harder to track.”
“They got Tomo to take you guys on during the last Chunin exam, didn’t they?” Toshiro said with a groan.
“Yep, though Vala knew her from before all of that,” Jack replied.
“Well, that explains some things,” Toshiro said.
“Who’s Tomo?” Kankuro asked.
“She’s the head of Intelligence,” Toshiro answered. “And normally she’s not allowed to be in charge of Genin.”
“Why’s that?” Temari asked.
“She’s a little,” Sekka started and then hesitated.
“Unstable,” a new voice broke in. A woman with dark brown hair stepped into view. “Really, and you call yourselves Shinobi.”
“I was waiting for you to decide to show yourself,” Jack said.
“Give you time for a dramatic entrance,” Daniel added.
“Does this mean that we can be Team Tomo?” Vala asked.
“What the hell is going on here?” Kankuro complained.
“The Kazekage sent me out to gather some information and, if you’ll agree to it, I’ll head into the village with you guys and use you as a cover,” the woman, Tomo, explained. “Your second team and I get along pretty well.”
“I suppose so,” Toshiro answered, blinking at the woman.
“Great, because I already sent in the paperwork with my name instead of yours on those three,” Tomo said. She looked around and the rest of the kids and grinned at them. “Hey, I’m Tomo and I’m just here to pretend to be those three’s teacher. And to actually torment them.”
“Just don’t let her make the cooking fire,” Jack said. “Or you’re liable to have the whole clearing set on fire.”
“Oh, you know I only did that as a training exercise,” Tomo said.
“A training exercise in what?” Sam asked.
“Fire safety,” Tomo replied.
“Well, let’s get moving before we lose the light,” Toshiro said.
They all got up, put away their food supplies and took off. Tomo and the three claimed as her team took to the trees as the other three teams ran along the ground. It took them almost a full week to get to Konoha, they made good speed when they moved, but since they still had time before the start of the exams, they paused to train. Tomo seemed to think that attacking her students whenever she felt bored was acceptable and soon that moved to a whole game of tag that everyone was playing. It took the place of training as they got closer to Konoha and closer to the possibility of lookouts for Konoha.
They arrived at Konoha a week before the exams were supposed to start. The students were cleared at the gates, but the Jounin teachers had to go do some paperwork.
“Why don’t you guys just go wander around, we’ll find you when we have everything set,” Tomo said, giving them a grin. Vala grinned in reply and the others could tell just what they were thinking of.
“Just stay out of trouble if you can,” Toshiro warned. “Remember, it's a bad idea to pick a fight before the exams start.”
“Right; we’ll make sure that they’re kept out of trouble,” George said.
“Indeed,” Teal’c said, though there was a hint of a smirk on his face.
“Don’t worry, we’ll behave ourselves,” Jack said. “After all, we’re just peaceful explorers, what could go wrong?”
Snickers broke out among the other members of SG1, remembering plenty of times where they as ‘peaceful explorers’ got into trouble. Toshiro just rolled his eyes and motioned for the Konoha guards to lead them away.
“So, where should we go now?” Cam asked.
“We’re being watched, so it’s probably a good idea just to wander around the place like we said that we would,” Vala said. “We can go and do the fun stuff later on.”
“This place is just as weird as everywhere else,” Jack said as he looked up at all of the buildings with their colorful roofs. “And look, Mount Rushmore.”
“That’s the Hokage Monument,” Daniel corrected. “All of the Hokages from the first one to the fourth one. Interestingly enough, the third Hokage is the current Hokage, as the Fourth died in the Kyuubi attack.”
“Fascinating, Daniel,” Jack said, rolling his eyes.
“Akio,” Daniel reminded.
“Bless you,” Jack replied.
“Let’s split up,” Vala said. “We’ll go that way, Team Toshiro will go that way and Team Sekka can go that way.”
“And what about us?” Temari asked.
“You can follow whoever you want or make your own way," Vala said with a shrug. “I know you’ve got your own ways of scoping things out.”
“I want to go check out the training areas,” Temari said. “We can’t go too deep into them, or else they’ll notice that we’re spying, but it’ll be idiotic not to try and look at some of them training.”
“That’s this way,” Daniel pointed in the direction that Team Tomo was going to go in.
Everyone paused and looked at Daniel. “How do you know that/” Temari asked.
“I looked at the maps of Konoha,” Daniel said with a shrug. “Jonas also looked at them, which means that he also knows where things are in this village.”
“Team Tomo will be checking out some of the training areas, Team Toshiro will be looking through mostly residential areas, and Team Sekka will be checking out the hospital along with the Hokage tower,” Jonas listed.
“We figured that you’d be able to make it around without someone who knows the map,” Daniel told George. “Since it’s mostly just the markets and the shops.”
“Understandable,” George said with a nod.
“Then let’s move out,” Jack said.
With that, the group split up into threes, each heading into a different area of the city. Jack kept an eye on their guards, waiting to see what they were going to do, but they only split up as well.
They wandered through the town, mostly offshoots of the residential area and the business district. They had to angle deeper into the city before they would get to the training areas that the other Genin would be more likely to use. Gaara and Vala disappeared at some point. Jack knew that Vala was trying to see whether or not she could get the guards confused or if she could get them to play a game with her, but he wasn't exactly sure just where Gaara disappeared off to. But then, that was Gaara for you, the most unpredictable ninja out there. Temari just rolled her eyes when she noticed that her brother and Vala were gone and Daniel pouted at being left behind.
They were just walking along an area that was largely fenced off when a kid came screaming around the corner and ran into Kankuro. “Hey,” Kankuro protested as he grabbed a hold of the kid.
“Is everything all right?” Jack asked, looking around and slipping his hand into his weapons pouch just in case there was an attack.
Several other kids came running around the corner and they stopped in surprise when they saw the group from Suna.
“Hey, let go of him,” a blond haired boy shouted out, pointing at Kankuro.
“Or what?” Kankuro asked. “The kid bumped into me.”
“Look, it was my fault,” a girl with pink hair said, giving Kankuro a quick bow. “I was chasing after him and he wasn’t looking where he was going.”
“I don’t like brats,” Kankuro said, hefting the kid up by his scarf.
“Let go of me,” the so called brat shouted out.
“You heard him, let him go,” the blond shouted. He ran straight at Kankuro, intending on attacking him.
“Hey, remember what Toshiro said,” Jack said as he stepped in the blond kid’s way. “We’re not supposed to get in a fight just yet.”
“I doubt that we’ll get in trouble for beating up a couple of snot nosed brats,” Kankuro grumbled.
“Let the kid go,” Jack said.
“Come on, Kankuro,” Temari said with a sigh.
“You always side with him,” Kankuro said. He not too gently dumped the kid onto the ground and glared down at him. “You’d better run, brat.”
The kid scrambled up and did run, coming to a stop behind the blond kid. “Beat him up, ni-san!”
“No one’s going to be beating anyone up,” Jack said, rolling his eyes.
“My Ni-san will totally beat you up,” the brat called out, pointing at Jack now. “You’re just scared.”
“I’m not scared, we’re just not here to get into trouble,” Jack said.
“Peaceful explorers,” Daniel murmured, barely loud enough for Jack to hear.
A rock sailed through the air, and Jack snatched it out of the air before it could hit him. “Hey, who’s throwing rocks?”
“You’re not from Konoha,” someone said from behind them. The Suna group turned to see a brunet sitting in a tree, staring down at them. The kid had a rock in his hand and he crushed it to gravel. “What are you doing here?”
“He’s right, you’re not from Konoha,” the pink haired girl gasped out. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“We are supposed to be here, kid,” Jack replied. “And what in heaven’s name were you thinking throwing a rock at me?”
“Throwing rocks isn’t nice,” Gaara spoke up. Everyone’s eyes turned to find the red head standing upside down on a tree branch in the same tree that the brunet was sitting in. The brunet paled, obviously not knowing that the red head was near him.
“And you say that we're insane,” Jack muttered to Kankuro.
“Gaara,” Kankuro groaned out. “Did you have to pick up their germs?”
“What germs?” Vala asked dropping down onto the wooden fence. “And you totally just ruined Gaara’s dramatic entrance, you doofus.”
“Don't call me a doofus,” Kankuro snapped back.
“Then quit acting like a doofus,” Vala replied.
“All right, everyone, just calm down,” Jack said. “And get down onto solid ground.”
“You know, Kankuro’s got a point,” Temari said as she stared up at Gaara. “He would have never have thought about doing that until you guys insisted by traveling by tree.”
“What’s wrong with traveling by tree?” the blond haired boy called out.
“There’s nothing wrong with traveling by tree,” Vala said. “She just doesn’t like heights.”
“Get down off the fence, will you?” Jack told her.
Vala rolled her eyes and dropped down off of the fence. Gaara flipped out of the tree and landed neatly next to the tree. The brunet leaped out of the tree and landed near the Konoha group. Jack rolled his eyes at them all.
“That’s better,” Temari said. “Now, can we behave like rational people?”
“What are you doing here in Konoha?” the pink haired girl asked.
“We’re peaceful explorers ad they let us in,” Jack said, jerking his finger at around where he guessed that the village gates were at.
“Don't worry, we’re being watched by at least five people by now,” Vala said.
“I thought it was just one before,” Daniel replied.
“It’s five now,” Vala said with a grin.
“You two are impossible,” Jack said. He ran a hand through his hair. “Am I going grey just yet?”
“Oh, you held out for a while the last time around,” Daniel joked.
“Anyway, kids,” Jack said, focusing back on the Konoha group. “We’re here for a reason and we’ve got five people watching to make sure that we don't go crazy, so there’s no need to attack us.” Jack tossed the rock back at the brunet, where it fell short and skittered across the sidewalk until it came to a stop next to the boy’s foot. “Next time take a look around before throwing things at people; don't you know the nursery rhyme?”
“Come on, let’s go,” Temari said as she walked right past the Konoha group. Kankuro glared at the brat, but he followed after his sister with his brother right behind him. Jack waited until Vala and Daniel followed before he moved, keeping a wary on all of the teens until they were far enough behind them.
“Rookies,” Vala decided. “We’ll probably have to face them in the exams, which they don’t know about, by the way.”
“How do you think?” Jack asked.
“You’re a rookie as well,” Kankuro pointed out at the same time.
“And technically, so are you,” Vala replied. “Besides, the only reason that we weren't allowed to go was because they were still sore at us for having a bit of fun.”
“You broke into the museum and stole several pieces,” Kankuro said.
“As I said,” Vala replied. “They were still sore at us for having a bit of fun.”
“I can’t believe that you got Daniel to go along with you in that stunt,” Jack said as he shook his head.
“You were caught with them,” Temari pointed out.
“I was making sure that they didn't get into any trouble,” Jack replied.
“You helped them break into the museum,” Temari said.
“Any more trouble,” Jack corrected himself with a shrug.
“Hey, it was a good idea at the time and we had no idea that they were making their decisions about who to send to the Chunin exams around then,” Vala said with a shrug.
“Besides, after Carter’s team washed out, I don't think we missed all that much,” Jack said with a shrug.
“You know, I think Kankuro might have a point in insisting that you’re insane,” Temari said.
“Of course I’m right,” Kankuro said.
“I don’t care,” Gaara said. “Insane or not, they’re my friends.”
“That’s the spirit,” Vala cheered.
“Okay, to get back on track, why do you think that they’ll be in the Chunin exams?” Jack asked. “I mean, I agree in them being rookie Genin, as they had on Hitai-ate and were clearly full of themselves, but rookies generally aren’t entered into the Chunin exam.”
“Ah, but they’re Konoha rookie Genin,” Vala pointed out as she held up a finger. “They’ve already got a home advantage, so that’s one less danger and the brunet especially looks full of himself enough that he’ll be sent in.”
“Hopefully to knock him down a peg or two,” Jack muttered.
“You’d think that they’d know about the exam if they were going to be entered into it,” Kankuro said.
“As I’ve said, they’re rookie Genin and not all rooky Genin can be as awesome as I am,” Vala said.
“You didn’t know about the existence of the Chunin exams before your little bit of breaking and entering,” Kankuro replied.
“That’s because I thought that they had already decided,” Vala said.
“And apparently they changed their minds on us,” Daniel said with a shrug. “Who would have thought?”
“I still can’t believe how far you’ve fallen, Daniel,” Jack said as he shook his head.
“Akio,” Daniel corrected with a sigh. “And I was checking to the store rooms before the museum closed, you’re the one who actually broke in with her.”
“Oh yeah, she insisted that you were locked in,” Jack remembered. “And that was very like you, Akio.”
“I don't think you guys would have passed the Chunin exams anyway,” Kankuro muttered.
“But we’ll beat this exam,” Vala cheered before she bounced off. The rest of the group sighed and followed after her.
In the week that followed before the exam started, they explored the whole town from front to back. They spent the daytime wandering through the town, pretending to basically be tourists and at night they snuck out one or two at a time and investigated that way as well.
Daniel wandered into the library during the second day that they were there and convinced the librarian to give him several books. His guard insisted on being in the room with him whenever he visited the library, but Daniel took care to only get books through the librarian. He knew from Suna’s library how territorial the buildings were when it came to secrets, but even the books that he was allowed to read had more information than the books found in Suna’s library. And, as always, Gaara hung out with Daniel as he read, keeping away any busy bodies who didn’t want to chance Gaara’s long stare.
Vala was particularly busy trying to gain entrance into the intelligence center. She spent long hours with Tomo casing the joint and figuring out their plans to get inside. Vala was also plotting to do the same thing for getting into the Hokage tower. She had yet to pull anything off, however, as Konoha had been understandably upping their security.
Still, they had gathered just enough information before the start of the exams to increase their distrust in Orochimaru and their dislike for the planned attack. They didn't say anything to Toshiro outside of passing him a report of the things that they had found out during the week in Konoha. Tomo, of course, was given a more extensive report. The teens got confirmation that the adults of Suna didn’t like the plan as much as they did when Toshiro sent one of his summoned hawks off to report to the Kazekage.
The three groups didn’t have time to wait, however, as the day of the first Chunin exam dawned.
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Chapter 4
Chapter 3: On to Konoha
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The four teams divided their time in the week before they left in two ways; they focused on finding out more about Konoha, Orochimaru and his Otokagure, and on training for the exams. Everything that Suna’s intelligence knew, Vala knew as well and Daniel scoured the library in search of mentions of Konoha. They were still glad when they started off to their destination, knowing that they could only gather so much information away from the source. Though they probably couldn't gain as much information about Otokagure in Konoha, they still had a good chance in finding out something.
As always, the nine dimensional travelers enjoyed seeing more of the world that they found themselves on. It wasn't the first time that they had left Suna, having gone on missions before, but this was a new direction for most of the group. Team Sekka and Team Toshiro one had traveled the furthest of the nine, as Iwa was rather far away, but Team Toshiro two had also traveled far for the same amount of time.
Konoha reminded Jack a lot of America and all of the other tree filled planets that they had gone to. There were a lot of trees in the Fire Country, tall, thick trees that had to be centuries old. Their joining Suna was completely by chance, but it was for a good reason. Yes, Jack would have preferred to live somewhere like in the Fire Country, as much as he complained about the view, he always did prefer trees over sand, but the people were good in Suna. Oh, not the politicians, Jack thought that the Kazekage was a bit of an ass, but people like Temari and Gaara and Toshiro were the reason why they decided to stay in Suna. Jack wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Daniel sneezed the whole way to Konoha before the antihistamines kicked in. “It’s just like old times,” Jack commented.
“Oh, sure, I love to sneeze my brains out,” Daniel dryly commented before sneezing once more.
“You were right, this is amusing,” Vala said as she watched Daniel intently. She still managed to leap from tree to tree while doing so, which halfway amazed Jack. But then, Vala had taken to Chakra manipulation like duck to water.
Daniel also was managing somehow to travel by tree and not to kill himself. That was mostly because Jack traveled right next to him and kept him from slipping and killing himself. All of the Suna born refused to travel by tree, but Jack’s team especially made use of the large branches.
“I don’t see how you three can stand it,” Temari commented one day when they paused for a meal.
“Stand what?” Jack asked. He jerked a thumb towards Daniel. “If you mean Danny’s sneezing, we got used to that years ago.”
“No, I mean traveling by tree,” Temari said. “Instead of going by solid ground.”
“Trust me, it’s something that I normally wouldn’t have considered, but it’s a good thing to do with trees like this,” Jack answered. “Less things to disturb on a tree branch, so it's harder to track.”
“They got Tomo to take you guys on during the last Chunin exam, didn’t they?” Toshiro said with a groan.
“Yep, though Vala knew her from before all of that,” Jack replied.
“Well, that explains some things,” Toshiro said.
“Who’s Tomo?” Kankuro asked.
“She’s the head of Intelligence,” Toshiro answered. “And normally she’s not allowed to be in charge of Genin.”
“Why’s that?” Temari asked.
“She’s a little,” Sekka started and then hesitated.
“Unstable,” a new voice broke in. A woman with dark brown hair stepped into view. “Really, and you call yourselves Shinobi.”
“I was waiting for you to decide to show yourself,” Jack said.
“Give you time for a dramatic entrance,” Daniel added.
“Does this mean that we can be Team Tomo?” Vala asked.
“What the hell is going on here?” Kankuro complained.
“The Kazekage sent me out to gather some information and, if you’ll agree to it, I’ll head into the village with you guys and use you as a cover,” the woman, Tomo, explained. “Your second team and I get along pretty well.”
“I suppose so,” Toshiro answered, blinking at the woman.
“Great, because I already sent in the paperwork with my name instead of yours on those three,” Tomo said. She looked around and the rest of the kids and grinned at them. “Hey, I’m Tomo and I’m just here to pretend to be those three’s teacher. And to actually torment them.”
“Just don’t let her make the cooking fire,” Jack said. “Or you’re liable to have the whole clearing set on fire.”
“Oh, you know I only did that as a training exercise,” Tomo said.
“A training exercise in what?” Sam asked.
“Fire safety,” Tomo replied.
“Well, let’s get moving before we lose the light,” Toshiro said.
They all got up, put away their food supplies and took off. Tomo and the three claimed as her team took to the trees as the other three teams ran along the ground. It took them almost a full week to get to Konoha, they made good speed when they moved, but since they still had time before the start of the exams, they paused to train. Tomo seemed to think that attacking her students whenever she felt bored was acceptable and soon that moved to a whole game of tag that everyone was playing. It took the place of training as they got closer to Konoha and closer to the possibility of lookouts for Konoha.
They arrived at Konoha a week before the exams were supposed to start. The students were cleared at the gates, but the Jounin teachers had to go do some paperwork.
“Why don’t you guys just go wander around, we’ll find you when we have everything set,” Tomo said, giving them a grin. Vala grinned in reply and the others could tell just what they were thinking of.
“Just stay out of trouble if you can,” Toshiro warned. “Remember, it's a bad idea to pick a fight before the exams start.”
“Right; we’ll make sure that they’re kept out of trouble,” George said.
“Indeed,” Teal’c said, though there was a hint of a smirk on his face.
“Don’t worry, we’ll behave ourselves,” Jack said. “After all, we’re just peaceful explorers, what could go wrong?”
Snickers broke out among the other members of SG1, remembering plenty of times where they as ‘peaceful explorers’ got into trouble. Toshiro just rolled his eyes and motioned for the Konoha guards to lead them away.
“So, where should we go now?” Cam asked.
“We’re being watched, so it’s probably a good idea just to wander around the place like we said that we would,” Vala said. “We can go and do the fun stuff later on.”
“This place is just as weird as everywhere else,” Jack said as he looked up at all of the buildings with their colorful roofs. “And look, Mount Rushmore.”
“That’s the Hokage Monument,” Daniel corrected. “All of the Hokages from the first one to the fourth one. Interestingly enough, the third Hokage is the current Hokage, as the Fourth died in the Kyuubi attack.”
“Fascinating, Daniel,” Jack said, rolling his eyes.
“Akio,” Daniel reminded.
“Bless you,” Jack replied.
“Let’s split up,” Vala said. “We’ll go that way, Team Toshiro will go that way and Team Sekka can go that way.”
“And what about us?” Temari asked.
“You can follow whoever you want or make your own way," Vala said with a shrug. “I know you’ve got your own ways of scoping things out.”
“I want to go check out the training areas,” Temari said. “We can’t go too deep into them, or else they’ll notice that we’re spying, but it’ll be idiotic not to try and look at some of them training.”
“That’s this way,” Daniel pointed in the direction that Team Tomo was going to go in.
Everyone paused and looked at Daniel. “How do you know that/” Temari asked.
“I looked at the maps of Konoha,” Daniel said with a shrug. “Jonas also looked at them, which means that he also knows where things are in this village.”
“Team Tomo will be checking out some of the training areas, Team Toshiro will be looking through mostly residential areas, and Team Sekka will be checking out the hospital along with the Hokage tower,” Jonas listed.
“We figured that you’d be able to make it around without someone who knows the map,” Daniel told George. “Since it’s mostly just the markets and the shops.”
“Understandable,” George said with a nod.
“Then let’s move out,” Jack said.
With that, the group split up into threes, each heading into a different area of the city. Jack kept an eye on their guards, waiting to see what they were going to do, but they only split up as well.
They wandered through the town, mostly offshoots of the residential area and the business district. They had to angle deeper into the city before they would get to the training areas that the other Genin would be more likely to use. Gaara and Vala disappeared at some point. Jack knew that Vala was trying to see whether or not she could get the guards confused or if she could get them to play a game with her, but he wasn't exactly sure just where Gaara disappeared off to. But then, that was Gaara for you, the most unpredictable ninja out there. Temari just rolled her eyes when she noticed that her brother and Vala were gone and Daniel pouted at being left behind.
They were just walking along an area that was largely fenced off when a kid came screaming around the corner and ran into Kankuro. “Hey,” Kankuro protested as he grabbed a hold of the kid.
“Is everything all right?” Jack asked, looking around and slipping his hand into his weapons pouch just in case there was an attack.
Several other kids came running around the corner and they stopped in surprise when they saw the group from Suna.
“Hey, let go of him,” a blond haired boy shouted out, pointing at Kankuro.
“Or what?” Kankuro asked. “The kid bumped into me.”
“Look, it was my fault,” a girl with pink hair said, giving Kankuro a quick bow. “I was chasing after him and he wasn’t looking where he was going.”
“I don’t like brats,” Kankuro said, hefting the kid up by his scarf.
“Let go of me,” the so called brat shouted out.
“You heard him, let him go,” the blond shouted. He ran straight at Kankuro, intending on attacking him.
“Hey, remember what Toshiro said,” Jack said as he stepped in the blond kid’s way. “We’re not supposed to get in a fight just yet.”
“I doubt that we’ll get in trouble for beating up a couple of snot nosed brats,” Kankuro grumbled.
“Let the kid go,” Jack said.
“Come on, Kankuro,” Temari said with a sigh.
“You always side with him,” Kankuro said. He not too gently dumped the kid onto the ground and glared down at him. “You’d better run, brat.”
The kid scrambled up and did run, coming to a stop behind the blond kid. “Beat him up, ni-san!”
“No one’s going to be beating anyone up,” Jack said, rolling his eyes.
“My Ni-san will totally beat you up,” the brat called out, pointing at Jack now. “You’re just scared.”
“I’m not scared, we’re just not here to get into trouble,” Jack said.
“Peaceful explorers,” Daniel murmured, barely loud enough for Jack to hear.
A rock sailed through the air, and Jack snatched it out of the air before it could hit him. “Hey, who’s throwing rocks?”
“You’re not from Konoha,” someone said from behind them. The Suna group turned to see a brunet sitting in a tree, staring down at them. The kid had a rock in his hand and he crushed it to gravel. “What are you doing here?”
“He’s right, you’re not from Konoha,” the pink haired girl gasped out. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“We are supposed to be here, kid,” Jack replied. “And what in heaven’s name were you thinking throwing a rock at me?”
“Throwing rocks isn’t nice,” Gaara spoke up. Everyone’s eyes turned to find the red head standing upside down on a tree branch in the same tree that the brunet was sitting in. The brunet paled, obviously not knowing that the red head was near him.
“And you say that we're insane,” Jack muttered to Kankuro.
“Gaara,” Kankuro groaned out. “Did you have to pick up their germs?”
“What germs?” Vala asked dropping down onto the wooden fence. “And you totally just ruined Gaara’s dramatic entrance, you doofus.”
“Don't call me a doofus,” Kankuro snapped back.
“Then quit acting like a doofus,” Vala replied.
“All right, everyone, just calm down,” Jack said. “And get down onto solid ground.”
“You know, Kankuro’s got a point,” Temari said as she stared up at Gaara. “He would have never have thought about doing that until you guys insisted by traveling by tree.”
“What’s wrong with traveling by tree?” the blond haired boy called out.
“There’s nothing wrong with traveling by tree,” Vala said. “She just doesn’t like heights.”
“Get down off the fence, will you?” Jack told her.
Vala rolled her eyes and dropped down off of the fence. Gaara flipped out of the tree and landed neatly next to the tree. The brunet leaped out of the tree and landed near the Konoha group. Jack rolled his eyes at them all.
“That’s better,” Temari said. “Now, can we behave like rational people?”
“What are you doing here in Konoha?” the pink haired girl asked.
“We’re peaceful explorers ad they let us in,” Jack said, jerking his finger at around where he guessed that the village gates were at.
“Don't worry, we’re being watched by at least five people by now,” Vala said.
“I thought it was just one before,” Daniel replied.
“It’s five now,” Vala said with a grin.
“You two are impossible,” Jack said. He ran a hand through his hair. “Am I going grey just yet?”
“Oh, you held out for a while the last time around,” Daniel joked.
“Anyway, kids,” Jack said, focusing back on the Konoha group. “We’re here for a reason and we’ve got five people watching to make sure that we don't go crazy, so there’s no need to attack us.” Jack tossed the rock back at the brunet, where it fell short and skittered across the sidewalk until it came to a stop next to the boy’s foot. “Next time take a look around before throwing things at people; don't you know the nursery rhyme?”
“Come on, let’s go,” Temari said as she walked right past the Konoha group. Kankuro glared at the brat, but he followed after his sister with his brother right behind him. Jack waited until Vala and Daniel followed before he moved, keeping a wary on all of the teens until they were far enough behind them.
“Rookies,” Vala decided. “We’ll probably have to face them in the exams, which they don’t know about, by the way.”
“How do you think?” Jack asked.
“You’re a rookie as well,” Kankuro pointed out at the same time.
“And technically, so are you,” Vala replied. “Besides, the only reason that we weren't allowed to go was because they were still sore at us for having a bit of fun.”
“You broke into the museum and stole several pieces,” Kankuro said.
“As I said,” Vala replied. “They were still sore at us for having a bit of fun.”
“I can’t believe that you got Daniel to go along with you in that stunt,” Jack said as he shook his head.
“You were caught with them,” Temari pointed out.
“I was making sure that they didn't get into any trouble,” Jack replied.
“You helped them break into the museum,” Temari said.
“Any more trouble,” Jack corrected himself with a shrug.
“Hey, it was a good idea at the time and we had no idea that they were making their decisions about who to send to the Chunin exams around then,” Vala said with a shrug.
“Besides, after Carter’s team washed out, I don't think we missed all that much,” Jack said with a shrug.
“You know, I think Kankuro might have a point in insisting that you’re insane,” Temari said.
“Of course I’m right,” Kankuro said.
“I don’t care,” Gaara said. “Insane or not, they’re my friends.”
“That’s the spirit,” Vala cheered.
“Okay, to get back on track, why do you think that they’ll be in the Chunin exams?” Jack asked. “I mean, I agree in them being rookie Genin, as they had on Hitai-ate and were clearly full of themselves, but rookies generally aren’t entered into the Chunin exam.”
“Ah, but they’re Konoha rookie Genin,” Vala pointed out as she held up a finger. “They’ve already got a home advantage, so that’s one less danger and the brunet especially looks full of himself enough that he’ll be sent in.”
“Hopefully to knock him down a peg or two,” Jack muttered.
“You’d think that they’d know about the exam if they were going to be entered into it,” Kankuro said.
“As I’ve said, they’re rookie Genin and not all rooky Genin can be as awesome as I am,” Vala said.
“You didn’t know about the existence of the Chunin exams before your little bit of breaking and entering,” Kankuro replied.
“That’s because I thought that they had already decided,” Vala said.
“And apparently they changed their minds on us,” Daniel said with a shrug. “Who would have thought?”
“I still can’t believe how far you’ve fallen, Daniel,” Jack said as he shook his head.
“Akio,” Daniel corrected with a sigh. “And I was checking to the store rooms before the museum closed, you’re the one who actually broke in with her.”
“Oh yeah, she insisted that you were locked in,” Jack remembered. “And that was very like you, Akio.”
“I don't think you guys would have passed the Chunin exams anyway,” Kankuro muttered.
“But we’ll beat this exam,” Vala cheered before she bounced off. The rest of the group sighed and followed after her.
In the week that followed before the exam started, they explored the whole town from front to back. They spent the daytime wandering through the town, pretending to basically be tourists and at night they snuck out one or two at a time and investigated that way as well.
Daniel wandered into the library during the second day that they were there and convinced the librarian to give him several books. His guard insisted on being in the room with him whenever he visited the library, but Daniel took care to only get books through the librarian. He knew from Suna’s library how territorial the buildings were when it came to secrets, but even the books that he was allowed to read had more information than the books found in Suna’s library. And, as always, Gaara hung out with Daniel as he read, keeping away any busy bodies who didn’t want to chance Gaara’s long stare.
Vala was particularly busy trying to gain entrance into the intelligence center. She spent long hours with Tomo casing the joint and figuring out their plans to get inside. Vala was also plotting to do the same thing for getting into the Hokage tower. She had yet to pull anything off, however, as Konoha had been understandably upping their security.
Still, they had gathered just enough information before the start of the exams to increase their distrust in Orochimaru and their dislike for the planned attack. They didn't say anything to Toshiro outside of passing him a report of the things that they had found out during the week in Konoha. Tomo, of course, was given a more extensive report. The teens got confirmation that the adults of Suna didn’t like the plan as much as they did when Toshiro sent one of his summoned hawks off to report to the Kazekage.
The three groups didn’t have time to wait, however, as the day of the first Chunin exam dawned.
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Chapter 4