Kuro's internal danger sensors pinged Kankuro’s hands – practically twitg, barely perceptible, but there, right near where he definitely had all his chakra strings and creepy puppet paraphernalia stashed. Uimating puppetry in this universe? Rookie mistake, big time, Kuro’s inner voice muttered. Kankuro himself looked… maybe a notch less intehan his siblings, even a little bit ‘meh, another day, another in Exam’. But Kuro was betting that art of the act. Py it cool, lure 'em in, and then unleash the creepy puppets. Cssikuro.
Kuro internally scoffed, though no hint of it flickered across his face. "Seriously? 'Beads of sweat rolling down my temple'?" he mentally mocked, eling the slightly overwrought dramatie of… well, of certain narratives he remembered. "Over dramatic much, inal text?" Nope. Beads of sweat were strictly optional and currently not io this particur party on Kuro’s forehead.
He was . Analyzing. Mentally taking notes, filing away little factoids about the Suna siblings for future reference. Apprehension? Not on today's specials menu, thanks. Mild i? Oh, definitely a side dish of that. Potential for mild irritation if this whole showdown dragged on into a tedious waste of perfectly good scroll-hunting time? Possibly simmering on the back burner. Actual fear? Please. As if.
He subtly adjusted his own stance, easing up, sciously trying to mirror a ‘no big deal’ kind of vibe. Hands loose at his sides, shoulders rexed. Let the Suna trio think they were projeg some super-intimidating aura aing under his skin. It would probably at least amuse Xero, if Xero was currently operating o earth and not still floating somewhere ier reaches of 'Kuro-power' shock.
Xero, predictably, was pletely unfazed. Intimidation wasn't really in Xero’s vocabury. Unless maybe you were talking about those really big, really fast cockroaches, and eve robably more startled fasation than actual fear. True to his brand, a wide grin split across Xero’s face – that grin, you khe ohat could meaher ‘brilliant pn ining!’ or ‘we are all about to be spontaneously busted.’ He bounced forward just a step, hands still shoved casually in his pockets, looking for all the world like he was just popping down to the er store for some milk and not fag down Gaara freakin’ of the Sand Waterfall and his equally formidable siblings.
“Hey there, Sand Siblings!” Xero called out, voice cheerful and loud enough to echo in the clearing, crag right through that heavy, charged silence. “Heard you three are, like, the headliners for these in Exams, right? You know? Top billing? Like… must-see TV or something?” He paused for dramatic effect. “Or maybe it’s ‘must-avoid-at-all-costs’? Still kinda w out the best marketing strategy for your brand, to be ho!” He punctuated his little speech with a wink that was so pletely out of pd yet so utterly Xero that it almost dared the teuation to spontaneously bust with pure awkwardness.
Then, in cssic Xero style – because oarget just isn’t enough fun, apparently – his gaze swivelled over to Kankuro. Laser-log onto him like he’d just spotted the st slice of pizza. And bang, right on target, the pyful taunting enced. “Hey, Puppet Master Dude!” Xero hollered out, plete with this overly enthusiastic wave, like they were long-lost pals bumping into each other at the ninja grocery store. “Love the… totally chill look, man. Really selling the whole ‘not eveely thinking about unleashing a swarm of creepy dolls to shred you to ribbons’ vibe. Though,” and here Xero’s gri full-on mischievous imp mode, “between you and me? Kinda blows the element of surprise just a tiny bit when it’s, you know… this obvious, right?”
He even tilted his head to the side, pretending to be all i curiosity, like he was genuinely fused about proper niiquette. “Seriously though,” Xero tinued, pressing on with his faux-ed act. “Is that, like, officially a standard ninja ‘rexed posture’? Is there a ninja manual that covers this? Or is it more of a… personal stylistic fir thing? Some kinda secret Hidden Sand Vilge teique, maybe? Like, the legendary… ‘Leaning Lazily Teique’? Please tell me there’s, like, a secret hand sign that goes with it? I am dying to learn that.”
Alright, so Gaara finally decides to actually look at Xero. And when I say "look," I mean really lock those seafoam-colored eyes onto him. And the stillhat was already radiating off Gaara? Yeah, it just ked up about ten notches. Seriously, you could almost hear the internal temperature in the clearing dropping a few degrees.
If humanly possible, Gaara's expression somehow mao bee even less expressive. Like all the tiny, miotions that even stoic people unsciously flicker had just decided to take a vacation. It was b on unnerving, even for Kuro, who’s seen his fair share of, let’s say, intense aares and should theoretically be immuo that sort of thing. But yeah, Gaara was nailing the whole ‘uny valley’ stare down thing.
Then he finally speaks. And his voice? Imagine ice cubes having a philosophical debate with granite gravel. Yeah, it was that kind of voice. Each word felt like it was carefully carved out of ice, perfectly shaped, perfectly cold, and utterly g in anything resembling human warmth.
"You,"
Gaara says, just that one word, ser-targeted right at Xero. And even just that one word carries this heavy, unspoken threat.
“You seem to operate uhe… misguided assumption,”
Gaara tinues, and there's this tiny, barely-there pause before “misguided,” just enough to underli and make it extra desding.
“That petty… antics… and insignifit squabbles against… is,”
– oh, and there's the pt. Subtle, but unmistakable. Lag that word, “is,” like poison dripped into tea. “Somehow trao… actual strength.” Another pause. Letting the sheer cold weight of those words just sink into the air.
“Let me disabuse you of that… childish notion.” And then, just silence. Leaving that final, chillience hanging there like a threat you could almost reach out and touch. Yeah, Gaara just dropped the mic. Metaphorically speaking, of course, because actual mic-dropping would be way too eic for brand Gaara.
