Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor does my...uh… nor does my pet turtle…

The next day arrived too soon for Naruto. He was still tired from staying up so late since he couldn't go to sleep. He yawned, stretching his arms wide. Unfortunately, his right hand hit his bean plant that was on his shelf. It fell… right onto the chair below it, dirt, mud and shards of its pot falling right onto Naruto's signature orange jumpsuit. The one that he had washed three times, ironed, and laid out neatly folded on the chair, so that it would be ready for him to put on the day of the jonin exams.

" Nooooo!!!!! DA-I mean darn it!!!!!! Noooooo!!!!! Why today, of all days?!!!!!" Naruto screeched at the top of his lungs.

He cradled his orange jumpsuit in his arms. " No!!! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Noooooo!!!" Naruto cried. What would he do now?! He couldn't live for 2 days without having worn his favorite piece of clothing!!!!

He stood there for maybe half an hour. After realizing that standing around crying for his ruined jumpsuit wouldn't help, he went to his closet, grabbed a pair of blue jeans, and a black t-shirt that read in the front , in big red letters " read the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings" and had a picture of a diamond-ring underneath the writing, on. He put an orange sweater with a swirl in the back on top of it, not wanting to be embarrassed by being seen walking around in that shirt. But, it was the only clean shirt he had, so he knew that it would just have to do.

He put his ninja-sandals on, and walked out of his house, locking the door as he went. As he was putting the key in his pocket, he spotted Hinata and Neji, both a little tense, heading towards the direction of the jonin exams. He noticed that Hinata wasn't wearing her usual clothes. Instead, she was wearing a pair of tight jeans that showed off her curves. He had never realized that she had such a big-- no!!! That's a perverted thought!!!! She was also wearing a green jacket over what he thought was a purple t-shirt that said " Da Fart Button-Press it- U know U wanna", and had a little red circle underneath the words, right where her belly-button should be. He supposed that the red dot was the " Fart Button". He ran to catch up with them.

The two were silently whispering to each other, and he caught fragments from quite a few sentences. "- think that'll really happen?", " - would hope not…", " Would father really…", "--personally, I think she's too young…", " - but he's convinced she's better than me, which she…", " - no, not true…", " - thinks it is…", " - wrong. And you know it. Prove it to him in the jonin exams…", " --don't think that's true-", " - is!!! Your inner self knows…", " -suck…", "- don't!!!", " -do…", " - could be better than me!! My Byakugan…see… holding back…", "-me!!!", " - worth it!", " - Neji! I-"

Hinata's words stopped mid-sentence as she saw Naruto coming towards them. Naruto flashed a huge smile towards them, and she retuned the smile, nervously, and started blushing furiously, more than usual. Neji nodded in greeting. Apparently, the conversation they had been having was secret, as they continued on in silence for a few minutes. Naruto was dying to know what they had been talking about. So…

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Hinata awoke early that morning. She yawned, then slumped back onto her pillows. She was even more tired than usual. She had been up until late into the night, training vigorously for the following day. She resisted the urge to let her head sink into her pillow again. She smiled slightly, remembering the jonin-level techniques that she had been mastering over the last few weeks in preparation for the exams. She hoped that she had improved enough to become a great jonin…

She stretched, and then got out of bed, walking over to her closet and grabbing her usual clothes. She set them on her bed as she went down to the kitchen, prepared a small breakfast for herself, and went back to her room. As she sat on her bed…

Her glass of orange-juice fell, spilling orange-juice all over her outfit. Try as she did to save her clothes, it was too late- they were soaked, and it would take too much time to wash and dry them. Going into a panic-she had wasted a lot of time staring at her clothes, and trying to mold chakra so that it would clean them, which didn't work, but almost succeeded in burning a hole in her clothes- she ran to her closet, grabbed the first things she saw, and put them on. She grabbed a large jacket, and pulled it over her shirt, seeing as she thought her " Fart-button" t-shirt was too tight, and showed off too much of her body that she didn't want to be shown off.

She ran to the garden in front of the house, and was about to pull her sandals on when she heard her father's voice, and it sounded pissed. " Hinata Hyuuga!!! Get into my room this instant!!!" She heard him bellow.

Crap… thought Hinata as she realized she had forgotten to put up a genjutsu inside the inner garden- she had burned all the flowers last night practicing the Fire Style: Phoenix Flower jutsu. Which she had obviously succeeded in mastering. When she passed the garden on her way to her fathers quarters, she silently and quickly casted a genjutsu that made the garden look perfect, down to every flower. Under close observation, though, it would be easy to spot that it was a genjutsu. She decided, then, that on her way back from her fathers, she would have to make some improvements to the genjutsu.

She stopped in front of her father's door, taking a deep breath, zipping up her jacket as she did so; she didn't think that her father would like the shirt she was wearing…

She reached for the door, and knocked.

" Enter." said her Fathers voice from the other side of the door. She slid it open, and shuffled quietly inside.

"…Hinata…humph…there you are…I have some important business to discuss with you." he said sternly, not caring much whether she was listening.

"…A-and what i-is that, f-father?" Hinata asked, putting a stutter into her voice. The only time she ever really stuttered nowadays was when Naruto was around, but she didn't want anyone to notice that she had changed. during the exams, she wanted to make a huge impression on her father that she had gotten a lot stronger. Strong enough so that she thought she could take her cousin, Neji, out in two seconds flat, if he wasn't prepared for it.

" I will get to that after the others have gotten here." her father said, and she knew that that was her cue to stop talking.

A few seconds later, her sister, Hanabi, came in, looking sleepy. When she saw Hinata in the room, she looked surprised, and concerned at the same time.

" Father, what-" Hanabi started to ask, but her father cut her off, saying the same thing as he had to Hinata to her sister.

Finally, a minute or so later, Neji appeared, panting a little.

" You called for me, sir?" Neji asked her father, bowing as he spoke.

" Ahhh…yes, there you are, Neji. Well, then, let us begin. I have called you all here to tell you that I am considering making Hanabi heir to the Hyuuga clan instead of Hinata. Hinata still hasn't changed a bit, and that means that Hanabi is still superior in strength to Hinata in every way. And," he continued, looking from each stunned face to the next, until his gaze rested upon Hinata, who instantly put up a mask to keep her emotions from showing. " Unless you can prove me wrong, Hinata, when the jonin exams are over, I will announce this to the whole Clan. Now, the reason that I only informed the three of you is that you Hinata are in need of much more training if you wish to keep your title. You, Hanabi, need to train a bit more, for there is always the small possibility that Hinata will progress in strength enough to defeat you. So, if you wish to receive the honor of the title of heir to the Hyuuga clan, you must train. Now, Neji, I ask of!
you a simple favor. Please, train with these two, no matter how pitiful it may sound to you, so that they may achieve your level of strength, or, at least, try to attempt to get them to your level. " he ended matter-of-factly. " Now, you are excused.

Neji was the first to get up. He bowed deeply as he stood. " As you wish, sir. I will devise a training schedule, if possible, to coordinate both of them into a training regime. As long as the jonin tests don't make it impossible to train them, then train them I will." Neji bowed once more, and then left.

Hanabi stood, bowed, and muttered a small " Thank you, father, for this honor." as she headed through the door. Hinata could tell that she wasn't happy at all. All her life, Hinata had listened to Hanabi complain that if Hinata didn't get stronger, then she would have to become the heir, and she didn't want that kind of responsibility.

Hinata stood, bowed, and turned to follow suit when her fathers voice stopped her.

" Oh, and Hinata?" he said to her.

Turning, she faced him. She bowed, and then asked " Y-y- y-yes, father?", once again putting on the act of " stutter girl".

Her father smiled at her. " Good luck in the jonin tests today." he said, so softly that Hinata could barely hear him say the words. Nevertheless, she felt cheered up right away. She rarely saw her father smile, and when she did, it was usually directed at Hanabi or Neji.

" Thank you, father." she said, accidentally forgetting to stutter. She bowed once more, and headed out of the room.

She reinforced the genjutsu, quickly, realizing that if she stayed too long, she would be late for the jonin exams.

She ran to the front door, quickly putting on her sandals. She ran the corner, and saw Neji waiting for her.

They walked in silence for a while.

Neji broke the silence. " About the meeting with your father…" Neji's voice trailed away, and there was an awkward moment of silence as they continued to walk.

" Do you think that'll really happen?" Hinata asked in a whisper, dropping her stutter. It wasn't worth the effort, she figured.

Neji was silent for a few moments "… well, I would hope not…" he said after a while.

" Would father really make her the heir?" Hinata asked Neji, finally letting her feelings of the matter loose. She was ashamed that father would do that. Also, she was disappointed in herself for not being stronger.

" Well… it's hard to tell, with your Dad… but, personally, I think she's too young to be the heir, when she's so used to you being the heir. At his stage, she wouldn't be able to cope with the responsibilities." Neji said, choosing his words carefully.

" … Well.. Either way, Dad's convinced she's better than me, which she is…" Hinata said, putting on the act of the old, weak Hinata.

Neji looked outraged. " No!!! … no, not true…" he said, a little loudly.

" Well…I thinks it is true." she said, wondering why Neji had suddenly started pretending that she wasn't weak anymore. She was still putting on the old act.

" … Well… if that's what you think, then you're wrong. And you know it. Prove it to him in the jonin exams, Hinata!"

" Stop giving me hopes!" Hinata said, suspicion clouding her mind. She continued on with her act. " You and I both don't think that's true-"

" But it is!!! Your inner self knows-"

" That I suck! Stop rubbing it in, Neji!!!" Hinata said, letting a tone of outrage creep into her voice.

"No, you don't!!! Hinata-"

" Neji, yes I do! You know how strong I really am…" she said, letting her voice trail off.

" But… Hinata! Don't you understand?! You could be better than me!! My Byakugan… you know it can see…well, in the garden last night, you were holding back when you burned it! Even I cant do that!!!" he said, a tone of disbelief creeping into his voice.

"-Wait…how-!!! Neji, you- You've been spying on me!!!" Hinata nearly screamed, but kept her voice low. She had put up tons of traps and genjutsu around the garden last night… but of course, Neji would have been able to pass those easily.

" …! yeah, well… well, it was totally worth it!" Neji said.

" - Neji! I-" Hinata was about to scold him when she heard footsteps hurrying to approach them. She quickly spun around, wondering who their pursuer was…

She blushed when she saw that it was Naruto, remembering the occurrences of the day before... He smiled a huge smile in her direction, and she blushed even more as she nervously returned it. She wasn't acting now; no, what was going on in her mind now was purely and truly hormonal.

They walked in awkward silence for a while.

" Hey... what were you two talking about before I came?" Naruto suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

Neji and Hinata tensed for a few moments.

The hell?! Inner Hinata thought. He heard Neji and me talking about the Hyuuga heir thing???

Luckily, Neji was able to recover his wits in time. " Naruto, they were personal matters, so if we told you, Hinata and I would get into trouble, and we might get punished. Now, we don't want that, and I don't think that you want that, either. So, just forget about whatever it is that you heard."

Naruto stared at Neji, then at Hinata.

Finally, he sighed, looking disappointed, and dropped the subject. He then started to mutter something about how life wasn't fair, and they continued on towards the jonin exams.

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As the three of them, Naruto, Hinata, and Neji neared the building where the registration forms were to be filled and turned in, Naruto spotted his teammates, Sasuke and Sakura, waving at him from across the clearing in front of the building. They appeared to be waving a registration form at him, and yelling things along the lines of " Get over here, idiot!", and " Hey, Sasuke, at least he's not as late as Kakashi-sensei… but, still, HURRY UP, NARUTO!!!!!", and things like that.

" Ahh… well, Hinata, Neji, I gotta go!! C-ya!!" he called to them over his shoulder as he started sprinting across the clearing to his team.

He saw Hinata wave a small good-bye, and he laughed slightly, smiling at her. When they had been walking, he had been watching her, and he had never realized that Hinata was such a-- gaaaahhh!!!! perverted thought!!! But, really, since when had Hinata had a--Gaaaahhhh!!! Am I turning into a Jiraiya?! But… most importantly… where had she gotten that "Fart-Button" shirt? He had noticed that everyone who had seen it had either burst out laughing, or else shook their head, and gone into a giggling fit. He so needed one of those!!!!

When he reached his teammates, he smiled a broad grin. " Hey, guys!!!" he said loudly.

Sasuke handed him the registration form, with a murderous glint in his eyes. Naruto wasn't sure if he was joking or if he was serious when he said " Sign this, or you die, Naruto!!!". All the same, when he was handed the registration form, he fished inside his pockets for a pen or pencil. Finding neither, he turned to Sakura. " Hey, got a pen or somethin' I could use?" he asked her impatiently.

She grinned an evil grin. " Yea, but its pink." she said.

Naruto barely hesitated. He didn't really care what color the ink was. It would work, all the same. " I don't care, just gimme!!!" Naruto said.

She passed him the pen, the evil glint in her eyes still there.

As he was filling out his form, she said, conversationally, as though she were talking about the weather " Sooo… I heard that you and Hinata… Kissed yesterday! And I heard that wasn't all that went down between you two!!!"

Naruto nearly dropped the pen, blushing a deep magenta color. He had totally forgotten!!! So that was why Hinata had seemed so extra shy!!!! God, I'm an idiot!!!!!! How could I forget about something like that?! Naruto thought furiously as he began to write again, nearly done with the reg. form.

" Well, whoever told you that was wrong!!! That kiss was totally accidental!!! We ran into each other as we turned the corner!!!!! I didn't mean it!!!" Naruto said as he finished the form.

Sakura said " That's what they all say, Naruto!!!," but she did look a little disappointed.

They turned in their forms at the front desk in the building, Naruto still a little embarrassed. The kunoichi at the front desk pointed to a room to the right.

" Now that you've turned in your forms, go into that room. The test will start in 15 minutes, so use your time wisely, by goin' to the restroom if you have to, and things like that. Now, that is all."

Naruto and his team headed towards the door. When Naruto put his hand on the door, he looked back at the registration desk, and saw Hinata's team, team 8, turning in their registration forms. Hinata caught his eye blushed, and then gave him an encouraging nod. Confidence growing, Naruto grinned a broad grin, and turned back towards the door. He opened it, taking a deep breath as he did so…

A/N: Have any of u seen my pet turtle? It… disappeared again… I forget what I did yesterday… oh, wait, there it is…Phew… last time I-- my turtle disappeared…

Me: ANGER-MANAGEMENT-ISSUES!!!!! PUT ME BACK--- I MEAN PUT MY TURTLE BACK!!!!!

ANGER-MANAGEMENT-ISSUES: Never!!!!! I want turtle soup tonight!!!!!!!

Me: No! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! I don't wanna die!!!!! I'm
too young to die!!!!! I… mean, my turtle is too young to die!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANGER-MANAGEMENT-ISSSUES: But I want turtle soup!!! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!!!

Me: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

… Yea, I barely escaped alive... I mean, my turtle barely escaped alive... Well... Anyways, this is a pretty long chapter, but I think it was worth it. It was also necessary. But...Now, finally, we can begin the jonin exams in the next chapter!!!! But, it might take me a while. I know its summer and all… but… I have a life to live, with friends and all… at least I don't have summer school, cuz then it would be a lot harder to update. Anyways, so, I know that I wrote this, but I got confused over the Hinata Morse-code thin... so, I've decided that I will change the chapter and make it so that its not on there. Anyways, I'll try to update as soon as possible. I didn't get too many reviews, so I want the people who did review to mention me somewhere, or anywhere, Plz!!! Or, something... oh, whatev. Just, plz review next time!!! Oh, and also, the next chappie... it includes the Naru-Hina, Sasu-Saku, Neji-Tenten, Shika-Tema, and Kiba-Ino pairings. But, if you don't like some of these pairings, if u mention it in ur review, then I can change them.

bye!!!- Krys-Seel ( review, review, review!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!)