Chapter One

Naruto didn't attend class that day. That should have been their first clue.

Halfway through morning lecture at the Academy, a strange Chuunin burst into Tenten, Ino, and Hinata's class. "Iruka-sensei," he said nervously, "something needs your urgent attention outside."

Iruka left. "What could be so important?" Ino wondered curiously, craning her neck to look at where the two men had disappeared to.

"Maybe Naruto did something," said Tenten in idle amusement, chin in her hand.

"Oh, Naruto definitely did something." They turned to look at Hinata. Her Byakugan was active and her eyes were wide. "Go to the window."

They did so - as did several other students. "Whoa!" someone shouted in awe and disbelief; no one would remember who it was.

The Hokage Monument, rising tall and proud out of the center of the village, had been graffitied all over. The entirely male monument had been painted over so that all of the stoical leading men looked like crying women. Naruto's distant orange form could be seen, cackling madly as he was chased away by angry Chuunin.

"Really?" said Tenten, deadpan, sweat-dropping.

"Well," said Ino dubiously, "you can say this for him, he definitely went out with a bang."

Hinata sighed and shook her head.

Naruto was hauled back into the classroom by Iruka, tied up in ropes. Any expert student could have freed themselves from the binds easily, but Naruto had never been an expert student. Iruka yelled at him from above for a few minutes, and then announced that because of Naruto's acting out they would all have to take a pop quiz on the Transformation technique.

Groans echoed from the class.

"As always. God, if I wasn't an expert at ninjutsu, I would be so pissed right now," Ino sighed, standing.

The girls ended up standing near Naruto. "This is so troublesome," they heard Shikamaru sigh. "This is all your fault, Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah, tell it to someone who cares," Naruto grumbled.

"You know, Naruto, for someone who always claims he's going to be the Hokage someday, you don't exactly take advantage of any of your study time," said Tenten, somewhere between sarcastic and know it all.

Ino's eyebrows were raised. She looked somewhere between contemptuous and above it all.

"If you keep angering people like this, they're never going to vote you in, Naruto," said Hinata with worry. "Remember, the Hokage election is a democratic decision made by every ninja within the village."

"You know, like the ones chasing and swearing after you a few minutes ago," Tenten added.

Naruto had flushed. "Screw you! Even if people don't like me, I'll still become Hokage!" he insisted.

"Brilliant strategy," Ino congratulated him flatly.

"I don't need strategy!"

"Good," said Ino, "because you don't have any." Her friends chuckled.

Sasuke had gone up to take the Transformation test. Wordlessly and without hand seals, he transformed into a perfect Iruka. When he'd passed, he stalked off coolly and silently to the side, all dark glamor.

Sakura went up next. She, too, did a perfect Transformation technique - a perfect Academy level technique for her perfect chakra control.

(None of the three girls had ever stopped being bitter about the fact that Sakura had no interest in being a true kunoichi yet had the best chakra control and intelligence scores out of any of them. Even with all their overachievement at the Academy and all of their high level training in chakra control, Sakura with no training could still almost beat them in those score areas.)

As if to prove their point, she immediately looked over at Sasuke and squealed, "I did it! I did it! Did you see that, Sasuke-kun?!"

Ino rolled her eyes.

Naruto came up next. He transformed into a busty naked woman and made a pass at the teacher. From there, their final class as Academy students devolved into complete anarchy. Tenten and Ino were furious with Naruto. Hinata was just exasperated.

They met up with Kurenai at their usual training field after school, but she surprised them by saying seriously, "Always rest before a hard mission or test. It will keep your strength up and your spirits high. Tonight, your mission is to go home, eat a good meal, do something enjoyable, and get plenty of rest.

"You've studied and trained as much as you can - you've worked hard, I've seen it. If you haven't figured it out by now, you're not going to pass anyway. This isn't an easy multiple choice test. It's a ninja technique exam."

So they went home, had a big dinner, washed up, and relaxed with something enjoyable. Hinata listened to music and read a book in her bedroom. Tenten fixed herself some new herbal remedies over a cup of tea in the kitchen. Ino powered down in bed with several ASMR videos and some aromatherapy with her perfume bottles.

Then they all went to bed, and tried to sleep. It was hard. They were nervous.

But the Genin Exam the next day at the Academy actually wasn't terribly difficult. Iruka was their instructor while a quiet man named Mizuki proctored. They had to last several minutes in a taijutsu spar against a fellow Academy student without being knocked out, answer a ninja information written exam, show sufficient stealth abilities out in a training field, and successfully pass through one of the three Academy level ninjutsu, chosen at random.

This year, the ninjutsu chosen was the illusion Clone. Tenten, Ino, and Hinata had been preparing for this one with Kurenai for years.

They went into the small room adjoining their main classroom one at a time. Iruka and Mizuki were sitting at a table piled with shiny new hitai-ate. Each girl did the hand seals, molded chakra in a stance, shouted the name of the technique, and - with their expertise in genjutsu, chakra control, and chakra endurance - each girl made a whole room full of clones.

Iruka, impressed but not surprised, marked them down as a pass. Cheering little girlishly, they each came up to get their new hitai-ate. The test hadn't been that hard - Hinata was a taijutsu expert and Ino and Tenten had been sparring with her and Kurenai for years, the written exam and stealth abilities anyone who'd studied and trained sufficiently could pass, and this last test was actually the easiest for all of them.

Still, it felt good to finally be able to tie that Konoha hitai-ate onto their forms.

Tenten, practical and boyish as ever, tied her hitai-ate around her forehead as standard. Hinata tied her hitai-ate around her neck like a kerchief. Ino's little black kunoichi dress had a bared midriff, so she slung her hitai-ate around her hips like a belt.

They all met up in the crowds outside the Academy afterward, chattering and laughing, exultant. They had passed, and they had passed with good marks. Being a ninja had never felt so good.

The only person of all twenty-seven students who hadn't passed… was Uzumaki Naruto. They spied him sitting on a tree swing, distant from the crowds, forlorn and alone.

"... You know, he can be an ass, but I feel bad for him," Tenten admitted.

"Yeah. Think we should say something?" Ino wondered.

"It might just make things worse," said Hinata sadly. "Being comforted by three people who did actually pass the Exam - who will move on without him."

Just then, their parents arrived, and they whirled around.

Ino jumped into her Dad's arms and shouted, "Victory is mine!" Her parents laughed and she cheered as her Dad lifted her up into the air and then engulfed her in a bear hug.

Hiashi had come with guards and retainers, as had Neji, who had graduated and been placed in a ninja team a year earlier with Rock Lee and Inuzuka Kiba under Maito Gai.

"As I thought," he told Hinata, nodding his head, but he had a small smile on his face and he looked pleased.

"Father." Hinata bowed slightly. "I passed with good marks."

"As expected from my daughter," said Hiashi with unusual warmth. Hinata blushed and smiled, hands crossed before herself, pleased.

Tenten was standing off to the side, alone and uncertain, her happiness fading. Then Hinata and Ino's parents noticed her, and their eyes became sympathetic.

"I say," said Ino's mother, "that we all go out to a nice restaurant and celebrate all three girls' victory." Tenten perked up. "Tenten, of course, as my daughter's friend and a fellow graduate, has to come."

"Of course," said Hiashi diplomatically. "She is my daughter's friend as well."

Tenten smiled.

They all went out to dinner together at a very fancy restaurant. And never once did they think about the fact that when they'd looked again at the tree swing, Uzumaki Naruto had no longer been sitting there.

When they came home, they each found a note waiting for them from Kurenai.

Very well done. I shall see you on the day of your first ninja assignment.

Yuuhi K.

They had all gone to bed by the time the news reached the adults in their family, of Uzumaki Naruto's potential ruin. The news of his miraculous save came even later.

The next day, they all filled out their registration paperwork and had their pictures taken in front of the Hokage Monument by a professional photographer. They turned in their paperwork at the Hokage's office; he looked it all over and gave them the stamp to go-ahead.

Still wearing their hitai-ate - it was a new but welcome weight - they all sat at a cafe together afterward, wondering what came next.

"We have to go back to our old Academy classroom tomorrow by nine AM," Tenten reminded them. "That's what Iruka said. And Kurenai said she'll be there, too."

Ino frowned. "But isn't it weird that we haven't gotten anymore information than that? And that Kurenai hasn't spoken to use since before we became Genin? What are they hiding? What are we supposed to prepare for?"

"Perhaps we are not supposed to prepare beforehand," said Hinata. "Perhaps they are testing our skills and our mettle for this first ninja assignment."

She was almost right.

Author's Notes: I think it's really important, considering how powerful and interesting they are, that I continue to paint the girls as imperfect in this section. Their embitterment towards Sakura and general "Konoha influence" exasperation with Naruto was me working toward that end goal. Hinata is less noticeable in her exasperation with Naruto, which just made sense for me when I considered her as a character. But none of the girls are by any means perfect. They're still a bit childish, a bit immature.

Still, they're not horrible people. They're not malicious toward Sakura, and they felt bad for Naruto on the tree swing. I'm trying to strike a balance.