A/N:This chapter covers the whole chunin exam and invasion of the leaf. I might have changed a few parts of the exam, like Shino not knowing who he'll fight after the preliminaries, but I tried to keep it close to the real thing...kind of. I don't have much to say. I've been really hungry for a while. I guess it turns out I like to write when I can't find anything to eat...Well, if you like then review please :)

Chapter 10:To Become a Chunin

It was around ten in the morning and team eight was on their way to the beginning of the struggle to become a chunin. The three genin were trudging nervously to the building they were told to go to. None of them were looking forward to the difficult challenges they would be put up against. Hinata looked like she was turning a weird color from holding her breath in.

"Hinata, you have to breath," Shino said.

"I'm a little...scared," she whispered.

The group was coming in close to the building when Hinata grabbed onto Shino and Kiba to hold herself from falling down.

"Hinata! We'll be fine! This will be easy!" Kiba said as Shino opened the door to the building and held it open for his teammates to enter through.

The sight that met them made Kiba cover Hinata's eyes before she could pass out from seeing it. There was tons of other genins standing around, each in their own group according to their villages. They seemed to be analyzing the others that would be taking the exam with them.

"Or not," Kiba said to himself, forgetting what he had just said about the exam being easy.

"Let's try to find someone we know," Shino said before the three started walking around.

Soon enough, they found team ten and minutes later joined up with team seven. Kiba decided to finally let Hinata see what was surrounding them, since she'd find out eventually. Luckily Hinata didn't want Naruto to think she was weak so she didn't pass out, only turned bright red and held her breath for a bit too long again.

"I thought this exam would be easier than what it looks like it will be," Kiba was telling the members of team ten. Team seven had left a few minutes earlier to go and get settled. "Whatever! I can still do it! We've trained hard lately," Kiba added, though he was just bluffing, trying to sound confident.

"Yeah, us too. This looks pretty troublesome though. I don't think I'm going to like this," Shikamaru said before the two teams started walking to the room they would take the first part of the exam in.

After meeting back up with team seven on their way to the door and looking at the cards that a certain genin named Kabuto had made on the others that were taking the exam, the three teams headed onward still. Before going through the door, they ran into some ninja who seemed to be starting trouble with Gai's team. Eventually, due to Sasuke and Lee, they got through the door.

The four leaf genin teams were waiting nervously for the rest of the genins to get through the door so they could start the exam. Naruto was the only one that was still bluffing. "We'll be fine! Nothing will go wrong! We'll all get past this first test!" he was yelling. Everyone else in the room thought he was a dumbass by now.

"Hey, Shino, Kiba! Have you realized how Sasuke's been different ever since that night you guys kissed a little bit in front of him? You think he might be gay too?" Naruto asked rather loudly, earning a punch in the mouth from both of his teammates.

"Naruto, stop talking so loudly!" Shino said sternly. "People will hear you. That could make this more difficult for our team."

"Why? Because they might not like gay people?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "Why would they care if you two are gay?" he practically yelled.

Once again, the idiot had spoken too loudly. Everybody in the group turned to look around at who had heard. Just like at Ichiraku's, people were now whispering to each other, staring at the boys.

"Really Naruto?" was all Kiba could think of yelling. "Again?" There was an awkward silence. "And do you have to say gay all the time? It just sounds weird!"

Shino looked like he would blow up from how red his face was.

"Sh-shino, please don't hurt him again," Hinata asked her teammate.

The room was too quiet now. Almost everyone was in the room ready to start the first part of the exam. Kiba and Shino were pissed again.

"Naruto, if anything comes up during this exam that involves me and you fighting, I'll show no mercy," Kiba said through gritted teeth to the blonde.

Naruto was finally catching on after spreading the word about Shino and Kiba at least 3 times. "Sorry," Naruto almost whispered, cowardly smiling, rubbing the back of his head.

"I thought we were done with bringing that up," Shikamaru said, annoyed.

The first part of the exam had been easy for team eight. Each of them had something special to help them cheat on the test they had been giving. Shino easily used his insects, Hinata used her byakugan, and Kiba had Akamaru to help. Akamaru's silence finally broke during the test, which made Kiba less tense about the test. His dog had been upset by the numbers of people and had been silent until the test actually started.

The next part was a little bit more difficult. Or, a lot more difficult, actually. Team eight had witnessed a few horrible events during their hunt for the scroll opposite of the one they carried. Eventually they won it and cautiously headed for the tower they were told to meet at.

Inside they were told about the next part of the exam they would have to go through.

"So we finally get to the good part," Kiba said confidently, grinning widely.

"Don't get too excited just yet," Shino told him. "You don't know who you'll have to fight. You could end up fighting someone like Neji, or that sand guy."

"Or I could end up fighting Ino or that stupid pink haired chick," Kiba said happily.

"That's not nice," Hinata told Kiba. "You should treat them more seriously."

"Why? All they're interested in is Sasuke. They can't be that good," Kiba replied.

"The only way we'll be able to know who we're fighting is when the time comes to do it. Please, can we just relax for now?" Shino asked his boyfriend.

"Well, sorry," Kiba said mockingly.

Shino gave him a cold look. "Don't test me," he said bitterly. Kiba looked a bit hurt.

"Sorry," he told his annoyed boyfriend.

Shino's fight was won. He had beat the one named Zaku, from the sound village.

Hinata's fight was lost. She was beat by her cousin Neji.

Kiba's fight was lost. He was beat by none other than the guy he had no heart for whatsoever at the time, Naruto.

Both of them were hurt, though Hinata's injuries were worse than Kiba's. They had both failed Shino. He felt alone now, even though he still had them, he felt alone because he didn't have his teammates to fight in the next part of the exam.

He didn't have anyone to help train for the next part. He didn't have his teammates to help train him. He felt they had let him down by losing.

A few weeks after the preliminary exams, Hinata was completely back to normal. She had been out of the hospital a few days after, but her mind had been somewhere else. Kiba and Shino had been fighting during the preliminaries, but they made up eventually. They didn't care about a few stupid comments they had made to each other. They just wanted to help Hinata get better and train.

Shino still felt alone, even though he had Kiba to help him train now. He didn't want to become a chunin is his teammates couldn't become one with him.

"What's wrong Shino?" Kiba decided to ask him on a sunny morning while they were at Hinata's house practicing. "You've been different lately." There was a pause. "Are you nervous about the final fight?"

"No. I know that nobody in there is any match for me."

"Yeah. You'd outsmart 'em before they got a chance to touch you," Kiba said confidently.

This made Shino smile slightly. "I wish you two were still in it," he finally said.

"I wish we were too! Being a chunin would be awesome. Too bad we screwed up. I guess we didn't train hard enough!" Kiba said. "We'll get it next time though! Right Akamaru?" Kiba said to his dog.

The pup yipped happily in reply. "I wonder where Hinata is with the snacks?" Kiba seemed to ask himself.

Shino had started to feel a little less lonely after telling Kiba why he felt so alone. The day of the final was drawing nearer and he didn't have time to waste. He trained each day and night, with his team and then with his dad. Each day that passed brought along more hope that Shino would dominate whoever he had to fight in the last part of the exams. Shino's dad really seemed to think highly of his son.

"So, how has your training been going with the team?" he asked Shino one night after they had trained together.

"It's been going great," Shino said with a hint of optimism in his voice. "I really think I could win against whoever I have to fight. Even if it's that Gaara."

"You do now?" Shibi questioned to see if his son was serious.

"Yes. I think I could beat any of them," Shino said again.

"That's nice to know. You've improved greatly since we started a month ago. You're almost ready to learn our family's special jutsu. I would have taught you before the finals, but it seems you think you'll win without it," Shibi told his son, proudly. "I hope you beat who you have to fight."

"I honestly feel like I can't lose," Shino said confidently.

"You should get plenty of rest so you can warm up early tomorrow," Shibi told his son before he went up to his room to sleep.

The fateful day had finally arrived. Shino got out of bed, hurried to dress himself and eat, and headed out the door to meet his team to warm up before the fight. "You're definitely going to win," Kiba said happily after they had stopped.

"Don't get too hung on winning. You don't know exactly what will happen when you start the fight," Kurenai told Shino.

"I've had a feeling for a while now that I'll win. Hopefully that feeling is true," Shino replied to his sensei.

"Good luck Shino," Hinata told her friend and teammate, smiling encouragingly.

It was time for Shino's fight. He had been picked to fight against the puppeteer from the sand, Kankurou. Shino was ready to head down the stair to his fight when his opponent spoke up.

"I forfeit," he had said, sounding bored.

Shino felt his stomach drop. He could feel the dizziness from what he had just heard rush through his head. His hopes to show his talent and win and get closer to becoming a chunin were being smashed. Now it was possible no one would see him fight, so there wouldn't be a reason to make him a chunin.

The sadness that had erupted through Shino stopped and was replaced by anger. Shino felt the bugs under his skin sizzle as his emotions became more out of control. He wanted to break someone's leg, then he wanted to hug a kitten, then he wanted to yell at it and tell Akamaru to chase it around for a while.

All he wanted to do now was get out of the view of so many people. He felt embarrassed for a reason that he didn't know himself. He just wanted to go home and hide from the rest of the world. But all he could do at the time was stay still and wait for the rest of the fights to end.

It had happened so quickly. Shino had seen through the genjutsu from the start. He had hidden himself on one of the balconies in the arena and released it off of him. Almost everybody else in the seats had passed out, except for the other ninja that were not genin.

He had seen Kakashi tell Sakura to get some people to go out and chase after the kids from the sand. Shino decided to go by himself instead of with the group to find the one he was supposed to fight. He left the arena without bringing any attention to himself and headed in the direction his kikai told him the sand kids had gone.

Shino had been fighting Kankurou from the sand in the woods and was poisoned as his bugs got Kankurou. Kankurou was rescued by his sister, and Shino was left behind to be killed by the poison spreading through his body. Shino started to lose hope that anyone would save him when someone landed on the tree branch he was laying on.

"I'm sending my insects in to get the poison out," he heard his own father say to him softly.

Slowly he felt more able to move his body as his dad's bugs took away the numbing of the poison. "What's going on exactly?" he asked his father, now able to speak again.

"The village is being invaded," his dad replied simply.

"Where is everyone else? I meant the other genins," Shino asked.

"Most of them are out from the genjutsu, but a few of them were sent out to chase after the genin of the sand," Shibi replied. "I see you've had a run in with the one with the puppet," he said matter of factly.

"I would have won if it wasn't for that girl," Shino told his dad, his eyes now stinging, tears welling up in them.

"It's fine, you did good," Shibi told his son proudly. "You definitely would have beaten him."

The invasion was over. The third hokage was dead. The village was half destroyed.

It was time for the third's funeral. Shino was heading there with his dad, Kiba, and Tsume, since they lived near each other. It was a sad time, and no one really cared about reasons to dislike one another. They were more focused on trying to clean and rebuild the village, and now they needed a new leader.

…

Everything was quiet at the funeral. A few people had talked for the crowd of leaf villagers about the hokage. Condolences were offered to the family of the third. The traditional funeral for the village's leader was put on without a flaw.

…

The funeral was over. The village was starting to be rebuilt. The funerals for all the victims of the cruelty of the intruders were put on and the bodies were buried. All of the hurt was slowly slipping away.

…

Now the village was almost back to normal. The genin teams were back to training and the search for a new leader had started.

"Naruto left with his sensei Jiraiya to get one, I heard," Shikamaru was telling Shino, Kiba, and Chouji.

"We need one in case of another invasion," he said again. "Not that there would be one anytime soon. I'm guessing the enemy's weakened."

"I just hope the new hokage is as good as the third," Chouji said.

"I hope the new one's smart enough to run a powerful village," Shino said.

"I hope the fifth can effectively run it too," Shikamaru said lazily.

"I hope the new one's hot," Kiba said coolly.

Everyone stared at him for a moment.

"Sooo, does that mean a guy or a girl?" Shikamaru asked, bored.

"I'm gonna go with girl. Just so you two can get joy out of it," Kiba said, pointing at the Shikamaru and Chouji.

The three stared at him still, thinking about his stupid comment.

"Really, Kiba? Our village was just almost destroyed and the only hope you have about our new hokage is that whoever it is is hot?" Shikamaru asked in disbelief.

Kiba just grinned at them, the setting sun glinting off of his shiny white teeth.

Hehe, I like the ending. It was going to be different but I chose to do it like this instead. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I think it's a little short but it's fine for me. Please if you like..Review!