Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 32: Jonin Exam!

"Kazekage-sama, every civilian in the village has been evacuated. But... we couldn't recall all the shinobi who were on mission. Therefore... the force we could gather to defend the village is only about three thousands counting all the genin."

Gaara closed his eyes. "I see..."

"Kazekage-sama..." another jonin in the room raised his voice, "...may I ask... how large is the invading force we're going to fight?"

Gaara threw him a sharp, piercing look. "Do you want me to tell the truth or the sugar-coated lie?"

Everyone in the room gulped. Their Kazekage never showed fear or concern about anything when it came to fighting. For him to say words like this, the problem should be much greater than they thought.

"Baki-sensei!" Gaara suddenly barked.

"Y-yes, Kazekage-sama!" The aforementioned jonin's eyes widened, and he answered the sudden command with a rather shaken voice. Gaara looked straight into his eyes.

"You are always the jonin I trust the most in this village. But the mission I'm about to give you now is one that will decide the fate of the village. Are you up to the task?"

"Of course, Kazekage-sama!" Baki nodded with the utmost firm tone in his voice. Gaara nodded.

"Very good. Then..."

He pulled out an envelope from his drawer and gave it to the jonin, who took it with widened eyes. "Please bring this letter to Konohagakure and give it to the Hokage as quickly as possible. Do not get caught, do not stop until you reach Konoha, and don't let it fall into the hand of the enemies. Hokage-sama will understand it when he reads it. Do you understand?"

The jonin's eyes widened. Usually, a message from village to village should be sent by hawks or similar trained animals, but for a Kage to order a mail to be delivered personally by a high-ranked shinobi...

"Yes, sir!" he answered, and disappeared in a flick of wind.

"Good. Then everyone else, let's go outside to meet with our troops; we should prepare our best to defend against the invaders before they come here... which will be in about three hours."

"Shinobi of Sunagakure. I have a question for you: do you love this village?"

The voice of Gaara, amplified by chakra, echoed across Sunagakure. Every shinobi at the square stopped their arguments and turned towards their Kazekage. One person in the crowd yelled up.

"Of course we love the village, Kazekage-sama!"

Gaara nodded, satisfied. "Very good. Then, I trust that all of you will do everything you can to protect our village if someone would invade her?"

"Yes!"

Gaara looked around the crowd. All the faces he had known, the faces of the people whose relatives might have been killed by him during the time he was still a crazy maniac, the faces of all the Sunagakure citizens he had sworn to protect in order to redeem himself, now were looking at him with trust in their eyes. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and when he opened them again, he said.

"Our village is going to be attacked by an unknown force in three hours. I don't know who is behind this sudden attack; if it was the Akatsuki who was attacking, I would have faced them myself, but they are bringing an army of thousands, which means they do not just intend to capture me, the jinchuriki of Sunagakure, but they are also going to destroy our village. I alone have no way to defend our village against that massive army."

In the crowd, murmurs of shock and fear started to spread. Everyone was taken aback from this sudden declaration; they couldn't even expect someone would dare to attack a Great Village so suddenly, without even a declaration of war, and with such a great force... Within the rank of the genin, loud sobs could already be heard.