When the five days were up, Xavyn, and Baki were in the middle of a fierce spar session, when his teacher suddenly stopped, and said he had to leave for a short time, just before he disappeared. Xavyn blinked confusedly before shrugging, and throwing his kunai, working on his aim. By the time Baki came back, Xavyn was worried that something happened to him, and he barely stopped himself from running to his teacher to check on him. "The third round is gonna start with a preliminary exam, you won't be allowed to be with them for it. Seven teams passed, that's more than we were expecting. And don't worry, they're perfectly safe, and unharmed." He could see fear begin to creep up in Xavyn's eyes, and put him at ease before it could take control. "They should be done well before nightfall, do you wanna keep training or get some rest?" Xavyn gave him a smirk, and took a defensive stance. "Pff, I can sleep when I'm dead, Sensei." Baki chuckled, and used full power to attack Xavyn but they still only used Taijutsu. The student felt excitement bubble in his chest, and he pretended Baki was his enemy to draw up more power.

"Whoa, very nice! Alright, let's take it up a notch. Use whatever jutsu you want, and defeat me." Before he finished his order, Xavyn produced a clone, and silently attacked his teacher; fire burning in his eyes, and his chest, anger fueling his every move, and he had only one thought on his mind. Baki couldn't believe his eyes, Xavyn produced two more clones, and they all attacked at full speed, the real one getting even faster until the five of them were nothing but blurs of tan, grey, and blue. Kunai clanked together, and created a screeching sound when the material dragged against each other. Baki felt somewhat cheated, his student had been holding back more than he originally thought. The clones suddenly disappeared, along with the real Xavyn, and Baki looked all around him, only to be knocked face down onto the ground, Xavyn had jumped up in the air, and landed on Baki's back, bending down to hold his hand full of chakra beside his teacher's eye. "Well? Do I pass your test now?" "Yes, you did very well." Xavyn backed off, and his teacher rubbed his shoulder blade where Xavyn landed. "I'm really impressed, you've come a long way in such a short amount of time. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro will be proud of you."

At the arena for the preliminary battle, Temari was surprised at how many teams passed, and Baki was noting that there wasn't even a mark on Gaara, the Hokage stepped forward to address the Genin, and explain the point of the Exams again, in more depth. "Any test is fine, just give me the details of the exam already, I can handle anything you throw at me." Gaara wanted the exams over as much as the others did. The third round proctor, Hayate, showed up, and told them to leave, drop out, if they weren't feeling their absolute best. He said they needed a preliminary before the real third round. Kabuto dropped out, and it got started. The winners of each match, one-on-one, would continue to the real third round, the losers would have to try their luck the next time. The matches were chosen at complete random, each name showing up on a screen behind Hayate. Sasuke, and his opponent stepped forward while everyone else moved up to the upper level. Orochimaru had disguised himself as a Sound Ninja Jonin, and watched with the others while Baki stood with his students.

Sasuke's opponent was stealing his chakra through physical contact. Gaara was unimpressed with Sasuke's ducking, and dodging, when Sasuke copied Lee's attack against him, then kicked him into the ground. Sasuke won the match, and Orochimaru could barely contain his excitement. Baki hid a smirk, having no doubt that Xavyn could keep up with Sasuke in the Leaf Genin's current state. Gaara was thinking something similar, Temari was impressed with Sasuke, Kankuro didn't have solid opinions on any of it; he just wanted the whole thing to be over. The second round saw Shino Aburame vs Zaku, Shino sent bugs to plug the holes in Zaku's body that allowed his jutus to work, as a result his arms exploded; holes littered his arms where the bugs tunneled out of. He was unable to continue, and Shino won. Kankuro was next, and he went up against a man who could dislocate each of his joints, and use his chakra to control his contorted body; he wrapped his body around Kankuro's, and use his chakra to tighten the grip he had on Kankuro's body. Misumi threatened to break the Puppeteer's neck if he didn't surrender, and the threat was carried out.

It turned out to be the puppet, Kankuro unwrapping himself from the binds he used to carry his creation; he wrapped the wooden arms around Misumi, and squeezed until his bones broke, giving Kankuro the win. He chuckled, wishing his friend was there to see him win; he missed him terribly but didn't let it show. Sakura, and Ino were next, and the battle seemed to drag on for an eternity, Gaara kept his arms crossed, and started digging his nails into his sleeves, and through it, to his arms, feeling his inner killer begin to ooze out. Eventually, both girls were so exhausted from the fight, and use of their jutsus that they both passed out, resulting in a double knockout; neither would move on to the final round. Tenten, a teammate of Rock Lee's, was up next, against Temari. Kankuro almost felt sorry for the Leaf Genin, Temari didn't even break a sweat, she used her fan to blow Tenten's kunais back at her. It was barely a fair match, and possibly the shortest, Temari won. It was boring Gaara, and he wanted to feel blood on his hands instead of watching others bleed onto each other.

Shikamaru, a Shadow control jutsu user, went up against Kin from Orochimaru's team. It had everyone on the edge of their seats, it seemed like they could both predict each other's next move until Shikamaru managed to connect their shadows, when he threw a kunai, causing Kin to do the same, and they both bent backwards. Shikamaru had moved Kin closer to the wall so she hit her head on it, and got knocked out, making Shikamaru the winner. Temari wanted to go up against him, wanting to see just how smart he was in person; their intelligence seemed to rival each other's. Naruto then went up against Kiba, and it looked like he was going to lose. Kiba, and Akamaru had a special jutsu that allowed Akamaru to transform into Kiba, then both spin rapidly, and damage anything they touched. It was called 'Fang Passing Fang', and during this attack, a smoke bomb was used to further hinder Naruto, and he knew he needed a way to escape. This happened three times, but on the third time, the smoke cleared to reveal three 'Kibas'; one was Kiba himself, one was Akamaru, and the other was Naruto transformed as Kiba.

Kiba could smell, and pick Naruto out, punching him, only to be surprised when he turned into Akamaru. Thinking he'd hit his dog, Kiba punched the other one, who turned out to be the real Akamaru. Naruto ended up winning the match, and Kiba had to be taken to the hospital. Up next were the Hyūga son, and eldest daughter. They used Byakugan against each other, and Neji, the son, told Hinata to give up because she was destined to lose to him. Hinata constantly doubted herself through the match, and Neji attacked her chakra points until she could barely stand. She was ready to give up, and let herself be beat, when Naruto called out to her, and told her to stop letting herself be pushed around, to ignore Neji, and show her true strength. In the end, she lost, and Neji was going to keep attacking her when the squad leaders held him back. Hinata collapsed, and was taken to the hospital, Neji won, and nobody was really surprised at that, he was already at Chunin level. The ninth match saw one that had everyone anxious; Gaara against Rock Lee. The sand Ninja could barely contain his bloodlust, and make it down to the floor.

His sand protected him as it always did, until Lee jumped on the statue in front of the upper level, and Might Guy told him to take 'them off'. Lee took weights off his legs, and everyone was confused at what they had to do with anything, when he dropped them, and the weight created craters in the floor where they landed, shocking everyone but Guy. He ran at Gaara again, and nobody could follow him, not even Gaara's sand could protect him perfectly. Lee jumped above him, and came down, kicking him on the head. For the first time in his life, Gaara felt physical pain, and a small part of him was afraid. Lee used the Front Lotus before opening something called the fifth gate, there were eight total, but Lee could only open the fifth at most. Each gate allowed the user to obtain more chakra, but at the cost of total internal destruction, even death. Gaara used either a clone or substitution jutsu to avoid the injury, and damage, Lee was too exhausted from the attacks, and jutsus to be able to properly defend himself. All he could do was try to run away as Gaara lay on the ground having been hit at some point between the Front Lotus, and gate opening.

Even he was getting tired, but Lee was unable to fight, and Gaara took the chance. He launched sand at the unconscious boy, going to use Sand Coffin on him, when Might Guy smacked the sand away from his student. Gaara couldn't understand why the man cared about his student, and stood up, surrendering, but he won the minute Guy stepped in, and interfered. The whole fight had the genin shaking in their sandals, Choji wanting to quit before his match would even start, too scared to want to fight at all. Lee, unconscious, stood up to fight. Guy hugged him, and took him off to the hospital. The tenth, and final match saw Choji fight off against Dosu, but he made a big mistake of using his expansion Jutsu against a Ninja whose attacks were sound, and vibration based. The battle was even shorter than Temari's, and Choji wasn't able to continue the match, allowing Dosu to win. With the winners standing tall, the losers in the hospital, except Sakura, and Ino, the Hokage congratulated them on winning, and Anko, the second round proctor, passed out a number to each Genin; it would mark their place in the final round.

The final exam would take place in a month to allow them to recuperate, and further improve their skills. They were allowed to leave, and the siblings were anxious to get back, and relax. When they arrived, they were glomped by four Xavyns. Even Baki wasn't spared from the clone hug-attack, but he returned it just the same. "Missed you!" Once he had his fill of hugs, the clones disappeared, and the real one stayed wrapped around Gaara. "Are you ok? Did you guys get hurt?" Temari, and Kankuro shared a look, and Gaara simply said "We won." "That's not what I asked." Baki took the oldest two in the building, leaving the youngest to catch up. "I...I got hit. My opponent was fast, and more powerful than I anticipated, but I'm right here. I'm ok, see?" Gaara held Xavyn's hand, and interlocked their fingers, bringing the youngest closer for a gentle kiss. Xavyn melted, and wrapped his free arm around Gaara's shoulders. "I'm glad. I was worried." "I know you were, but we're all ok. Are you ok? You seem different." "I'm fine. Sore as hell from everything Baki Sensei made me do with my jutsu, but...not too sore to not celebrate you guys' wins."

Gaara gave him a confused look, and Xavyn's hand moved from his boyfriend's shoulders, down his chest, and belly to his pants. "Oh, you want to...to do that again?" Xavyn nuzzled at Gaara's neck. "Yes, if you're ok with it." Gaara wrapped both arms around him, and used sand to carry them away from prying eyes. "I want it too, but please. Let me help you feel good this time." Xavyn smiled, and kissed his boyfriend again, tangling his fingers in his hair, and shirt material. "Ok." Gaara gently pushed Xavyn to lay on his back, and straddled him, setting his gourd down beside them. He kissed Xavyn's neck, and nipped a line up to his jaw while Xavyn ran his hands up Gaara's shirt to run his fingertips along the perking nipples, and down his ribs. "I've missed you, Xavyn. I wish you were there with us in the forest, you might have enjoyed it there." "Mm, I missed you too. Baki Sensei said you'd be proud of my improvements." Gaara bit down on the neck in front of him, and relished in the moan he recieved from it. "He hasn't even let you rest, has he?"