Disclaimer: Naruto and all related characters are the intellectual property of Kishimoto Masashi, and as such, are copyrighted to HIM. Any characters, objects, techniques, situations not originating from his works are MINE unless specified. This story is mine too; I'm just playing in his sandbox like thousands of other Naruto fanatics.

Reaching the Heavens

Prologue: Wish upon the Stars

One month. In one month, the genin exams would take place. And one Hyuuga Hinata, was terrified. If she failed, she would be bringing more shame to herself and the Hyuuga Clan name. And her father wouldn't tolerate a failure like that. No, he most certainly wouldn't. And the prospect of failing once more, at the first stage in becoming an official kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf village…it terrified her more than her father's disappointment at being incapable of defeating her younger sister in combat.

Yet at the same time, she was strangely hopeful.

Why? Because if she graduated, it meant Hinata would get assigned to a squad. And if she got assigned to a genin squad, she might get put in the same team as Naruto-kun! Yes, as terrified of failure as she was, the prospect of passing left the Hyuuga Heiress hopeful of finally spending time with her crush, the boy who despite all the hardships and ridicule he's had to endure over the years, still managed to amaze her by picking himself up from the ground again and again, no matter how many told him to give up.

Yes, Hyuuga Hinata, was hopeful, wistfully so.

Of course, when you consider how terrified she was at not graduating at the same time, one would expect the girl's thoughts and emotions to be rather jumbled up. And it would be true, which is the reason why Hinata lay awake in her bed, unable to fall asleep just yet.

Among the conflicting thoughts that were coursing through her mind at the moment, a stray worry appeared. What if her Naruto-kun failed once more? No… NO! He wouldn't fail! He could not fail! Not again, not this time! The other times he had taken the exam, two times to be exact, he failed. He might have not been ready in either occasion, though. But this time, he was sure to pass. He just had to.

Being Hokage was his dream. Naruto-kun wanted to be Hokage more than anything. She admired his confidence and drive, and wanted so badly to follow in his example. She was proud of him, even if she didn't have the courage to tell him yet. She wished she could find a way of making her father proud of her, as proud as she was of Naruto.

She really hoped she could be with Naruto on the same team. Then, maybe, just maybe, Hinata might learn from him, take some of his determination and make it hers. Then, she may stop being such a pitiful failure. Yes, she might be able to live up to her clan's expectations of her as an heiress… or at least some measure of them.

Still, having turmoil late at night is never good when you want to sleep. And Hinata really wanted to sleep tonight. Sighing in resignation, the girl directed her gaze towards the windows. It was a clear night, and the stars where sparkling brightly, oblivious to Hinata's troubled mind. Oblivious to her fears and her hopes.

She idly wondered if Naruto was also awake at this hour. Not out of nervousness, like her, but out of excitement. Yes, that seemed like Naruto-kun. If he were to be awake tonight, he'd be unable to sleep because of excitement. Too excited to fall asleep, looking forward to the day he finally received his Hitai-ite along with his classmates and became a shinobi; achieving the first step in reaching for his dream. If only she could be that excited, and the graduation exam was still one month away! She'd rather be in a state of nervous excitement than the earlier chaos in her mind, Hinata decided. Then maybe she might finally be able to enter the land of dreams. Pleasant ones, of course.

She did not feel like having one of her nightmares tonight.

Then again, she had to fall asleep to even get a nightmare. And she hadn't been able to attain any sleep whatsoever yet. Fortunately, she hadn't been awake that long. She might still be able to attain the necessary rest for tomorrow.

And then her ponderings were totally dashed upon witnessing the shooting star traveling across the night sky.

Now, Hinata was not really a superstitious person of any sort. Still, as she was looking at the shooting star, she couldn't resist indulging herself a bit, and made a wish. And the wish she made… well, as any sensible person will tell you, if you make a wish upon a star, and told someone, then it wouldn't come true. And so Hinata returned to her bed. But this time, slumber finally claimed her.

Had she kept her eyes open when she made her wish, Hyuuga Hinata would have noticed a most peculiar thing. For the shooting star split into three, the pieces scattering across the starry expanse in different directions.

It was just as well. There existed a slight possibility that Hinata would have thought of the display as a bad omen. And her life was more than deserving of the smallest amounts of happiness as it was.

On another note, one Uzumaki Naruto was indeed awake. But unlike the Hyuuga heiress, he had just been thrown back into consciousness from a dream involving ramen, Sakura-chan rejecting the stuck-up Uchiha and asking himon a date… Oh, and getting the Hokage Hat and Robes, with all the people cheering him on, ramen, Uchiha Sasuke groveling at his feet, and more ramen. So it was a good dream. Well, as good as his dreams got, in his opinion.

But then he was jarred awake by… well, he thought at first that his stomach was growling, but he wasn't hungry at all when he returned to the land of the living. He just had the strangest urge to go outside and look at the stars. Upon looking out the window, he saw a shooting star fly across the sky.

And when he saw the star split, the only words that came out of his mouth were "Wow, that is so cool! I can't wait to tell Iruka-sensei tomorrow!" And then he went back inside to catch sleep once more. He never did get to eat that extra large bowl of shrimp ramen in his dream.

Oh well.

Constructive Criticism is thoroughly appreciated and accepted. Flames will be flushed down the White Charlie. This is my story, enjoy!

Special thanks to XyoushaX and Paintball-Gamer for the beta work they did, and to my partner in crime, Arganaut.