As her lavender tinted eyes opened, breathing in the fresh scent of a new day.

Her name was Hinata Hyuga, and today was graduation day.

After nearly 8 years of ninja training, she (hoped) was finally ready to become a fully fledged genin.

She silently ran through the Hyuga compound, passing only the earliest of the branch members, trying to smile at each one, though some only scowled back, some gave her the normal "Hinata-sama", and smiled gracefully.

Hinata wished she could smile that gracefully.

Once she reached the outskirts of the compound, she began running, with a basket in hand, to one of the more depressing parts of the village-the cemetery.

Once she reached the stone graves, she walked over to the one closest to the cherry tree - father had made sure of that, and read the name that she had read over a thousand times – Hitomi Hyuga, or Hinata's mother.

"Ohayo Kaa-san!" Hinata whispered in the tiniest voice, "Hanabi and father are well, and Hanabi has grown so much..." Her mind drifted to the day their father had pitted them against each other, forcing them to fight, and when Hanabi showed so much talent in the gentle fist...

Hinata sighed as her heart began to fill with all that sadness and regret, that now Hanabi's eyes, which had once looked at her with love and idol ism, now looked at her with hate and disdain.

Any ways, after getting over her slight depression, she said her goodbyes and set off to her next destination – the academy.

But little did she know that Kakashi, sneakily hiding after talking a little with Rin and Obito, watched the young Hyuga with interest as she walked away.

"This year's genin will be interesting…"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

At the academy, it was filled with the high tensions and excitement that the graduation day usually brought. Iruka had seen many years as a sensei, and only when he was an academy student was the potential genin so interesting, and diverse.

He remembered when he was a genin, with all the now jounin, like Kurenai, Asuma, and even Kakashi, that were now teaching the genin the he deemed worthy…

"Umm, Iruka-sensei, is it time to start?"

Mizuki's questioning face brought Iruka back to reality, checking his watch, "Uhh, Yeah, It's about time" He answered to his colleague in teaching.

"ALRIGHT!" Iruka yelled, immediately silencing the whole room and dozens of pairs of eyes stared at him.

"So, I am sure that most of you are here for the graduation, so names will be called in shortly, and when your name is called, please come in this room." Iruka said, pointing to the closed door behind him.

Hinata took in another deep breath, trying to calm her nerves for the 5th time that day, more for Naruto's sake than her own.

She knew that the boy's ninjutsu wasn't the best, and he basically couldn't do a clone jutsu, let alone a kamawari without it being sloppy in form and precision, meaning that she probably wouldn't pass the test.

Honestly, it wasn't his own fault, but that his chakra reserves were just too large to be able to get enough chakra control to create a standard clone. Naruto just wasn't …ordinary in any way.

"Hinata Hyuga"

Her name was called out, so, taking another shaky breath, she walked into the room, and cleared her mind.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Shikamaru Nara had already worked out how the graduation teams would work out.

For the close combat team, it would be Sauske Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzamaki- the top boy and top girl with the worst boy.

For the capture team, would be Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and himself, - the second boy, second girl with the second worst boy.

For the tracking team, they would be Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame- the third girl, the third worst boy, and the third boy,

Simple.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Hinata, walking out of the door, felt a little … accomplished?

She had done slightly better than she had expected in the clone jutsu, and her transformation felt a little more, realistic?

The plain face and bored mind really felt like Iruka-sensei, even more so than before. Maybe, just maybe, she could beat Ino's graduation score and get second place?

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Ino was feeling pretty crappy today.

Firstly, she woke up feeling horrible today, on the worst day-graduation day, and knew that her ninjutsu was going to be bad.

Secondly, her ninjutsu WAS bad, and her clone was barely recognizable, and the transformation of Iruka-sensei looked nothing like him.

Thirdly, Sauske-kun was all ignorant of her flirtatious comments that were totally not whiney, or even desperate. That made her red in the face, not only from anger, but from her infatuation. Anyways, he'll turn around one day…

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Shino, although he didn't show it, was feeling pretty happy with himself, from the graduation test.

He had done well, and his inner thoughts asked himself if he couldn't have gotten second place, when he had trained so hard for the huge, no momentous occasion.

As he walked home, he knew he could only hope.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

That night, holding the silk sheets, she felt the excitement fill her heart, knowing that her team mates, the ones that would help her through every mission, through every problem, the ones that she could turn to and eventually grow to trust, and maybe, maybe even love? These questions filled the recesses of her mind and sleep took her to a place too deep for dreams.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The third hokage was feeling pretty crazy today.

He had probably had too much sake but he – in his drunken mind, thought he was perfectly fine to create the new genin teams, even if without the clan heads or the genin instructors.

As he organized the teams, he completely forgot about the Ino-Shika-Cho combination, that had lasted generations, and did the most simple thing – he organized by rank – no matter what could happen, no matter how many disasters in waiting he could create, he stood by with the standard way, turning a blind eye to those huge flaws.

"These genin will be very interesting indeed…"

As the chirruping of birds filled her ears, Hinata Hyuga turned, still getting distracted from her walk to the academy. Shaking her head once more, she knew she was just nervous for her new team, with all the different possibilities. She hoped that she would get Naruto-kun on her team, but she knew that she could never beat Sakura-chan in terms of ability.

Sitting down at one of the academy benches, she reminisced her days at the younger years of the academy, where she always sat at the last table, trying to hide from everyone, but, as the academy bell rang, she knew that she would, in her teammates, have at least a person to lean on.

The first teams were not very important, as no-one she knew was assigned to those, but team 7 changed.

"Naruto Uzamaki…" Iruka-sensei called out, to which Hinata immediately perked up, hoping against hope that something, a miracle could happen… "Sakura Haruno…"

She sighed, feeling that familiar disappointment overwhelm her as she ignored the last name. Maybe, maybe she would get someone else, someone kind and comforting and positive and…

Someone like Naruto.

She settled down again, ignoring, her surroundings until "Hinata Hyuga" was called out, where she felt her heart wrench a little more. Maybe, maybe she could get a good team?

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Shino Aburame"

Shikamaru could almost say the next member already, Kiba Inuzuka's name bounced in his mind, but nothing could've prepared him for what happened next.

"Shikamaru Nara"

"NANI!?"

Notes

I hope the readers enjoy the story, but it is my first story, so please don't hate too muchL, so, if you don't like the story, don't read!

I am also going to say, if you haven't read the description, that this story will be based on Hinata and her team (Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru) and the ship will be HinaShika.

Please read and review (constructive writing advice), andddd, enjoy!

-Meepmeep107