Chapter Text
Sasori stared at the wall aimlessly. He glanced through the window briefly, but it was still the middle of the night, so there was not much to see, not that he particularly cared. He was sitting at the corner of his bed, his puppets wrapped in a bundle next to him, fully prepared for a mission. His grandmother would probably not be pleased if she knew he hadn’t been sleeping, but he barely got any to begin with, so it was hardly a difference to the usual.
Today was supposed to be different, however. He was to travel to Konoha with a team and participate in their chunin exams. The village seemed especially keen for him to get his promotion as soon as possible, he had noted, though he himself didn’t especially care. Still, he didn’t want to make them wait.
As time passed, he eventually heard the sound of someone calling his name. Light was starting to pierce through his windows, illuminating his neatly organised yet somewhat empty room. He had packed lightly for the trip, though he didn’t have much by way of possessions. He glanced at the family photo he kept on his bedside table. Konoha is where they went on their last mission…
The voice called him again and he turned away. Sasori picked up his sunagakure forehead protector and adjusted it. He hated wearing it, the way the metal plate dug into his skull, a reminder he belonged to and served a village he barely cared about and that barely cared about him. Then he fastened his puppet bundle to his back and walked out of the door, a blank expression on his face as he glanced back one final time.
“Ahhh, Sasori. I trust you are ready? Your team will meet you outside the village gates” His grandmother, Chiyo, greeted him, with an attempt at warmth in her voice.
“Understood. I will do my best.” Sasori walked past her and towards the village gate. Neither of them bothered with saying their goodbyes – Sasori didn’t especially care, and he didn’t imagine that his grandmother did either.
Sasori’s “team” were in position outside the gates of Suna, just as Chiyo had told him. Two shinobi he’d never seen before who seemed at least 10 years older than him, though doubtless far less skilled. They glanced at him apprehensively and nodded as a greeting. Their “sensei” was one of the village elders whom he only vaguely recognised from the council meetings his grandmother dragged him to. It was a team of convenience, to satisfy the entry requirement. Though it wasn’t as if Sasori had much experience working with others – most either feared him or envied him, or a mixture of both. Either way, he kept to himself, and others kept his distance from him. It was better that way.
“The journey to Konoha will take three days. Follow along.” the village elder stated matter-of-factly, gesturing down the path.
The three genin followed along behind them, and they continued to walk for several hours at a steady pace. The two Suna shinobi who were accompanying him were glancing around, seemingly mesmerised by the greenery which started to appear the further they got from Sunagakure. It was Sasori’s first time outside the village as well, but he wasn’t particularly interested in taking in the sights. He’d already seen these landscapes in the books on poisons and plant types the village had given him to study, so it was nothing new to him regardless.
The trek to Konoha was long and fairly dull, but Sasori kept himself distracted by thinking of ideas for new puppets he could build when he returned to the village. The rest of his team seemed to be enjoying the journey far more than him, talking excitedly about what the tests could entail, what Konoha might be like, the different shinobi they might meet while they were there. He found the continuous conversation irritating, as it disrupted his flow of concentration, so after a while he started to distance himself from the others. Nobody bothered him about this, of course – they all knew the team was made just to fill the spots so he could promote to chunin. He didn’t need a team at all, his puppets were the only teammates he required.
Eventually, the gates of Konoha came into view. It was certainly different to the sand village, more vibrant, full of life and color. It seemed much busier as well, though Sasori presumed much of this might be down to the influx of shinobi from other villages arriving for the chunin exam. A part of him still scanned the crowds looking for his parents – this was one of their last known locations, according to Chiyo. Though they had supposedly left for the Hidden Mist a few days prior, so he knew it was unlikely. There was no point wasting time on it.
The elder had already left them to sign in the team, and not a moment afterwards, his two teammates had run off to get some of Konoha’s signature ramen and meet some of the other chunin exam competitors. The exams were not to start until the following day, as teams were still arriving from the other villages. Sasori looked up and down watching the teams arrive, sizing up his competition. There were Hidden Mist shinobi, who brought with them new weaponry he had not seen in the Sand. He had read that Konoha’s own shinobi had fearsome visual jutsu, to which counters would need to be devised. He was of course still confident in his own skills, yet it was better to be careful. He silently hoped that the “teamwork” aspect would be kept to a minimum as well. It was easier to work alone.
Sasori stood by the gates for several hours, simply watching. He had gone almost entirely unnoticed during this time, with only the occasional quick glance as shinobi continued to pour through the gates. This was unsurprising, as he hardly looked like much of a threat, and Suna was already regarded as the weakest of the five great nations. His headband was the only indicator he was participating in the exams to begin with. As the sun started to set, the final teams arrived. It was probably time to head back and find the others, Sasori thought to himself.
“Argh, you dumbass! We nearly missed the whole thing because of you! Do you have any idea how much crap we’d have to deal with from Lord Tsuchikage for that!” a girl with short black hair wearing an Iwa forehead protector was yelling.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. It’s much more artistic to arrive at sunset, un! How would we make an impression if we arrived at the same time as everyone else? This way, we’re sure to stand out!” The boy next to her was yelling just as loudly. Sasori couldn’t quite make out what he looked like behind the shadow of his teammates, so he stepped forward, craning his neck to try and get a view. He didn’t really know why he cared, but this team seemed to be somewhat different to the others he’d seen over the course of the day. Distracted, he inadvertently stepped on a pile of leaves which made a loud rustling noise.
“Oh! Someone must have been watching out entrance!” The boy in front exclaimed excitedly, rushing forwards before spinning around and running towards were Sasori stood. Sasori could hear the other two members of his team groan.
As the loud boy emerged from the shadows, Sasori could take a better look at him. He was wearing the same Iwa forehead protector and red and brown shinobi uniform as the other two, but what stood out was his long, bright golden hair, which was half tied back in a messy ponytail. His eyes – or rather, singular eye, as one was hidden behind a curtain of hair, were wild and felt somewhat chaotic. The trio all seemed to be a similar age to Sasori himself, which was unusual – most of the chunin exam hopefuls had been older. I wonder what their jutsus are, Sasori thought to himself. Nobody was entered in the exams at that young an age without good reason.
“Hey there! You must be taking the exam too, huh? Seen any cool, artistic jutsus yet, un?” the blonde boy grinned, voice full of excitement.
Sasori simply looked at him, puzzled. What was he supposed to do in these situations again? He barely bothered interacting with others outside of mission assignments and puppet commissions.
“My village has requested I take the exam in order to promote to chunin and better serve the village.” Sasori replied to him dully.
“Oh wow, you sound really enthusiastic about it, huh? Well, you’re in good company, un. I don’t really give a damn about my village either! I only agreed to come along to get more inspiration for my art!” His eyes seemed to flicker when he got to the last part, Sasori noted.
“...art?” Sasori was confused. He’d read widely – there wasn’t much else for him to do back in Suna – yet this wasn’t something he was familiar with. Perhaps a secret jutsu of the land of Earth.
“Urgh, not this again, Deidara! You know nobody is interested in your ‘art’, big bro, so please just give it up before you embarrass us further.” The Iwagakure girl had walked over to join them. She sighed and turned to Sasori. “I apologise for his behaviour, he’s always like this I’m afraid...”
“Just because you don’t have the brains to understand it, doesn’t mean no one does, Kurotsuchi!” The blonde boy – Deidara – loudly remarked back at her.
Their third teammate, a taller and more imposing yet more relaxed looking boy, now came to join them.
“Now, now, you two, please try not to fight before the exams even start! We’re supposed to be a team, remember? Team spirit and all that? Now come on, we should go and sign in before the arrivals desk closes for the day” He attempted to calm down the situation, but the other two didn’t seem to be paying much attention, Sasori noted.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Deidara rolled his eyes, then turned to Sasori.
He reached inside a bag fastened to his hip and took something out. Sasori recognised it as modelling clay – they had some small quantities of it in the puppet workshop back in Suna. He watched, confused, as Deidara swiftly moulded it between his hands. It only took him a few seconds, until it took the shape of a small white scorpion. He handed it over to Sasori, who simply looked in amazement.
“Hey, this is for you, yeah? Onoki told me these were native to the land of wind.” He grinned and held out his hand.
The clay scorpion was very neatly sculpted, albeit with a few minor differences which conveyed to Sasori that the boy had never actually seen one in person. It was probably his first time outside his village as well.
“Oh! Um. Thank you…?” Sasori replied awkwardly, then reached out and took the scorpion from him. This was certainly not what he expected when he had agreed to enter the chunin exams. He didn’t really understand Deidara’s intentions at all, but the small clay sculpture he had made… It looked quite nice. He wondered where he might display it in his workroom, though his grandmother and the village elders might not be happy with him receiving gifts from another village, he thought to himself sadly.
He held the scorpion in his hand for a moment and admired the details, but then to his dismay, it began to crack and crumble away, giving off a slight mysterious red shimmer as it crumbled into a glittery dust that dispersed into the air. Sasori looked at it and his expression dropped. Of course he had to go and break it. He called out to Deidara desperately, who had already started to walk off towards the centre of the village with his two teammates.
“It broke…” he looked down at the ground miserably, holding out his empty hands. Even the red dust had now fully disappeared from the air.
Deidara simply looked at him, puzzled for a second, then to Sasori’s surprise, he burst out laughing.
“Uh, it’s supposed to do that, un! For you see, my art – true art – is a fleeting flash of beauty that only lasts a second! It’s an explosion!” His eyes lit up again and he jumped into the air.
With that, Sasori watched he turned around once more and disappeared into the now darkness of the village of Konoha with the rest of his team.