Kankuro wasn't easy to insult, but he couldn't help the twitch of his expression at a comment like that coming from Gaara.

What if he didn't pass? Was Gaara threatening repercussions, was he implying his father would perform them? Was he insinuating the entire village would look down on him if he spent another five months a chuunin? Gaara had never once lorded his higher rank over Kankuro, but that didn't mean the older brother hadn't felt it.

"I know." He swallowed the bile in the back of his throat, and ignored the awful taste the words left on his tongue. Civility was a hard pill to swallow.