A/N: I'm Baaack~ MUHUHAHAHA! And you thought I'd gone forever! EERRR! Wrong! Haha! Wussup boys and girls, I'm back and with a massive chapter for your reading enjoyments. Sadly it's just the prelims. Yeah, I know; boring, overdone, negligible, but also sadly necessary. But the good news is that I got it all done in one go! So that's a plus.

I'm just going to say it now, but I absolutely hated doing a lot of this chapter, since I was just sick of rewriting the same scenes we've all read a thousand times before. But at least it's done now. Also who's psyched for the new Eureka 7 series? WOHOO! Ok, sorry, moving on.

Thanks to Nightblader1021, TsknRaidr, Leaf Ranger, pyromania101, Jack Inqu, SpeeDemon, cmcwiki, Chewie Cookies, Ookami88, RisingSolstice, MWkillkenny84, GuardianOfTheMist, Hydrianway1013, lord Martiya, Orchamus, Genj1, awsm125, CracktheSkye, ZeroLink21, NorthSouthGorem, KitElizaKing, OBERVER01, Skelo, Flan-Bridge, Shisora, asredwer, lostWOLF-KING, Chris, Hee-Ho Master, KantonKageX, CrescentMelody, Hypothetical Spiritual Entity, jjmartinez1217, HyperCricket, Bluestone, angel61991, evilballoon, Kai Luna, lambtastic, TheSlain, Impstar, Heart of Aiur, and Kaminari Hakate-chan for leaving tasty reviews on chapter thirteen. You guys kept me going.

But enough of the soft stuff! Onto the story!

P.S. VIZ sucks.

Enjoy!

Chapter 14:
Trial and Error

The four shadowy forms of young children slipped through the canopy of the Forest of Death, carefully picking their way to the central tower that was their assigned goal. Their pockets full of scrolls, they had everything necessary to pass this second part of the three part exam. They were silent as they approached the spire.

The rest of the short journey was uneventful, though they kept their weather-eye open for potential threats. None came however, and for that, the four genin were thankful. When finally the massive walls of the fortification finally loomed in front of them, they felt their heart lift in joy, even as the landed next to it.

Next to them was a pair of doors, unlocked and inviting.

Kabuto turned to the accompanied genin and sighed. "Looks like we made it safely… I'm glad I ran into you guys when I did. If it weren't for your efforts back there, I'd be dead right now." He smiled and rubbed the back of his neck in humility.

"Nah, I'm sure if you didn't have to carry around our dead weight, you'd've gotten away from them fine," Naruto countered with an equally humble smile.

"Oh no Naruto-kun; of all people, it's you I should be most thankful to. You saved me back there. In fact, you saved all of us!"

Naruto sniggered, basking in the praise only momentarily. "Well, y'know…"

For an instant, their muscles tensed as their relaxed guard was immediately repositioned where it should have been; someone else was nearby.

But before any of them had time to utter a warning, a masked man dressed in dark purple stepped out of the foliage, followed by a similar looking man behind him. Kabuto sighed quietly and waved off team seven's defensive stances, while simultaneously slipping out of his own. "It's ok; it's my team."

The first one spoke as he neared. "Kabuto, we've been waiting for you for a while. Where've you been?"

The silver haired boy shrugged. "Well, things happened, you know. I'm here now anyway, and with the scrolls."

The man nodded, sparing only the briefest of glances in team seven's direction. Kabuto then turned and addressed the three younger genin with a warm smile. "Sorry you three. This is where we part ways. We're going through this door. Good luck to you on the other side."

Naruto smirked and stepped forward, extending his hand friendlily. "Yeah, you too!" Kabuto smirked and accepted his hand, shaking it firmly. Without another word, Kabuto stepped back to join his comrades and opened the door next to him, the three of them disappearing inside.

Naruto watched the door close before turning back to his own team. "Now it's our turn, let's go guys!"

Sasuke smirked at the blonde, his energetic nature never failing to be annoyingly present. Nevertheless, he followed the boy to their own door. Looking behind him to make sure everyone was with him, Naruto grasped the door knob and turned it, throwing he door wide open as he stepped through.

Once inside, the door latched shut behind them. They looked around curiously.

They now stood in a big room with two balconies on either side that led beyond the wall in front of them. On that wall, a sort of poem hung on the wall in large letters for all to see.

"Hmm… what do we do now?" Naruto mused aloud after a few seconds of silence.

The other two pondered for a moment before Hinata perked up. "The examiner said we'd be disqualified if we opened the scrolls before we got to the tower. Since we're here, that means we should be able to open them now."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Good one Hinata. Naruto, get the scrolls out."

The blonde did so, handing one to Sasuke while holding the other delicately in his grasp. He eyed the Uchiha nervously, even as the other boy did the same. "Ok, on three; one… two… three!"

In one motion, they gripped the edge of the scrolls and pulled, unraveling them several feet, only for their eyes to widen at them. Naruto blinked as he recognized the markings instinctively. 'A summoning jutsu!' Though he hadn't really paid much attention to lessons on summoning, the information he thought he'd ignored suddenly resurged to the forefront of his mind.

Without even needing to think, he immediately saw the key markings and telltale signs of what kind of summoning it was; the way the two sets of markings on both scrolls worked together jointly to summon, not something, but someone.

He immediately released the parchment while almost commanding Sasuke to do the same. "Sasuke! Let go of the scroll!"

The Uchiha did so, tossing it to where Naruto had thrown his. They landed beside each other and an explosion of smoke burst from them simultaneously.

They all shielded their faces and peered into the smoke, trying to see what might have been summoned. When it cleared, they saw, to their surprise, Iruka, standing there with a proud smile on his face. "Hey! Long time no see."

Hinata was the first to speak, breaking the resulting silence that came from his greeting. "W-what's going on?"

He smirked happily. "At the end of the second exam, its set up so that we chunin meet up with the exam takers, and I was allowed to be the one to greet you three." He pulled out his watch and his eyes widened in surprise, but his smile didn't disappear. "Wow! Done in only three days huh? Impressive!"

Sasuke blinked. "Done…? So then…"

Iruka nodded. "Yep; for this second exam, you all pass!"

There was a second of silence before the realization set in, sending all three of the genin into different states of excitement. Sasuke sank down to his butt and let out a satisfied breath. Hinata's expression softened and a smile lit up her face.

Naruto... oh Naruto, he smiled proudly and simply looked at his old teachers in excitement, as if he were a student who'd just heard they were going on a fieldtrip, and was waiting to hear where they were going. That, and his proud laugh filling the room made everyone feel a little more energetic; his laugh wasn't self-pride, or egotistical, but rather a pride in his friends, and in his own ability to support, rather than carry them.

"Hahahaha! I told you Iruka-sensei! I'll become Hokage someday; I can't let the chunin exam stop me, can I?"

Iruka shook his head and laughed lightly. "No I guess you can't. You've grown Naruto… you all have. Hinata, you've become much stronger; I can see it in your eyes. And Sasuke, mmm, how do I say this…?"

He sheepishly stroked the back of his neck and smiled nervously. "…well, you don't seem so unapproachable anymore."

Sasuke almost snorted at his words, but accepted them nonetheless. Hinata seemed to brighten at his words of compliment and her confidence was once again bolstered. Even if she did get stronger, telling herself that only offered so much. Having someone else say so reaffirmed it as fact in her mind.

"Since you all have completed the test on the third day, you have two days you can spend freely within this tower. Rest, practice, even talk with some of the other genin if you want, but no fighting. That's all I have to say," Iruka said again.

"Oh, and…" He smiled happily as he stepped forward and ruffled each of the genin's hair. "…I'm proud of you all!"

They beamed at him happily; even Sasuke, though it came out more reserved than the other two.

"So then, where do we stay?" Naruto asked as he looked around. There were no obvious signs that this place was an inn, and he doubted they'd have room service…

"That's also what I'm here for actually. If you'll follow me…" He motioned them along and led them into the tower. They traveled for several minutes until Iruka led them to three rooms that sat side by side.

"These will be your guys' rooms until the sixth day of the exam. Everyone is required to have at least one day of rest once they've completed the exam, so those who finish on the fifth day will have their own time to rest as well."

The three nodded, understanding what he was saying clearly.

"There's a cafeteria down this hallway to the left, and you might find other teams there as well, along with a small lounge, just in case you get bored."

They nodded again.

"Alright, well, I guess you guys are a bit tired from the test, so I'll go ahead and let you get some rest. It is almost eleven o'clock already, and I doubt you got much sleep in the forest."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and clutched his left shoulder. "Tch, you can say that again."

Iruka eyes the boy seriously for a moment, but then snapped back to his previous expression. "In that case, I'll let you guys get some sleep. See you later!" He gave them a wave as he turned and left.

Sasuke didn't waste any time in entering the middle room and closing the door behind him. Naruto waited a few seconds, staring at the closed door, before he carefully looked both ways and reached over to Hinata and pulled her into a hug, kissing her on her forehead tenderly.

"Night, Hina-hime," he whispered affectionately as he pulled away. "Sleep tight."

She blushed at the title he gave her, but nodded. "Y-yeah, you too."

He smirked at her and waited for her to enter her room before entering his own. Once the door was closed and locked, he slid out of his clothes into the shower. He stood with his face to the nozzle, letting the hot water run down his naked body, soaking his hair and skin as it rinsed away the dirt and grime from the past three days. Making sure to wash his hair thoroughly (since Hinata had commented quietly on more than one occasion that it was as soft as an animal's fur), he finished himself up and turned off the water, stepping out and drying himself off quickly.

Once out of the bathroom, he didn't even bother to put any boxers on as he went straight for the bed, plopping down on it and tested its softness; it wasn't any different from any other bed, but it felt better than the ground he'd been sleeping on for the past two days.

He stared up at the ceiling smiling proudly as he reiterated the fact that they'd passed the second part of the chunin exam in his head. Slowly, he went over everything that had happened during the test, from their fight with Orochimaru to the weird scuffle with the sound ninja.

That was where his smile dropped.

He couldn't for the life of him understand what it was that had possessed him (literally) when he'd woken up. He bit his cheek as he thought about it, before he found his eyes settling on the sword and scabbard that lay on the floor beside the bed. Sitting up, he picked the weapon up and placed it on his lap, settling into Jinzen. If anyone had any idea what it was that was wrong with him, Shinsō would know. At least, he hoped she would.

"So? How'd it go?"

Kabuto smirked as he held over a small card to the man in front of him. "Very well actually. He's progressing quickly, though steadily." The man took the card and looked at it, examining the contents carefully. "I see… What do you think?"

Kabuto shook his head. "I hardly think my opinion is necessary. After all, in the end, everything will be decided by you, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru smirked at the remark and nodded. "Fufu… I like that wit of yours. Good work."

He was about to leave when Kabuto spoke again. "I also noted down some unique oddities in his teammates. In particular, Uzumaki Naruto."

Orochimaru grinned. "Yes, the Kyuubi boy. I'm glad to see he survived the night."

'No thanks to you,' Kabuto added mentally, though he'd never say it aloud. "Yes. While I was with him, he displayed some rather interesting powers. In fact, if he learns to control them, from what I saw, he could become a dangerous enemy." He pulled out another card and handed it to the sannin.

"Or a potential ally, though I doubt he…" The pale-skinned man stopped himself as he took the card and looked at it. For several long moments, he didn't speak. When at last he did, it was in a dark, amused chuckle. "Hmhmhm, interesting… I wonder where the boy got such powers from, and this other form you mention…"

He tucked the card into his pocket and grinned at the silver haired boy. "Commendable work, Kabuto. I'll contact you again later."

Kabuto nodded as the man flashed away. "Understood."

He also smirked as he thought back on the face Orochimaru had just made. He laughed to himself as he adjusted his glasses. 'Seems like he won't be satisfied with just Sasuke. I wonder what he'll do with you next, Naruto-kun. Well, either way, it'll be fun messing around with you both.'

If he'd said it out loud, one would have thought he was referring to Naruto and Sasuke. He wasn't.

Naruto opened his eyes to the forest again, Shinsō sitting on the large rock like a chair, her smooth legs extending out somewhat from her kimono. She smiled at him as he approached, his bare feet rustling the cool grass with each step.

"Welcome back," she offered politely.

He grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "Looking as pretty as ever I see."

She raised an eyebrow at him and looked him up and down. "…I might say the same thing."

He blinked and looked down at himself to see what part of his wardrobe had changed, only to find he had no wardrobe at all.

"Whoa!" His hands immediately shot down to his privates, shielding them from her sight while his eyes frantically looked for a branch, or bush, or even a stupid leaf to use as covering. 'Though… I guess it would have to be a pretty big leaf…'

Shinsō simply giggled, placing her hand up to her mouth as she did. "Oh relax, it's nothing that surprises me. After all, I am a part of you."

He looked at her skeptically. "So, what? You spy on me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I know everything you do, if that's what you mean."

Naruto slowly relaxed and stepped forward. 'Well, I guess if that's the case, I should think of her, as me... Wow that's weird!' Shaking that thought out of his head, he focused and approached with purpose. "Anyway, if you know what I know, then you know why I'm here."

Her amused smile faded and she nodded seriously. "It's another you."

He cocked his head to the side. "Another me?"

She nodded. "Everyone has a dark side to them. For you, a human with Shinigami powers, your dark side is more… palpable."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed quietly. She hadn't wanted to have this conversation, not yet anyway. "It's called an Inner Hollow. It an extremely rare phenomenon. Basically, all your instincts, all your destructive urges, and all your darkest qualities put into one being who wants to consume your soul."

Naruto shivered. "And this… thing took me over when I woke up?" he asked, putting the pieces together as best he could.

"Yes. He sensed you were in danger, and took over to protect himself, since if you die, he dies too."

"And all those abilities I used…?"

"Abilities afforded to you by your Rinnegan. It has several innate powers that come with it, but they are instinctually learned. He, as a being of pure instinct, knew how to use them right away."

Naruto lowered his head. "I see… So that's why it felt so natural to use it earlier."

She nodded. "That's right. He used several of the Rinnegan's powers, but not all of them. The rest I doubt he'll just show you, or that you'll let him have control in order to show you…"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Yeah… When I-… I guess, he was fighting Sasuke, he would have cut through Hina-chan just to get him. I would have thought that even if he was a dark me, he'd care for her, but…"

"He doesn't care for anyone but himself, and you," Shinsō said after a moment. "Remember, by nature, he's stronger than you, because he will do things you normally wouldn't do. He has no inhibitions, nor restraints."

"Then, how do I control him?"

Shinsō was silent. Naruto simply stared at her expectantly. She sighed and looked away. "That's a discussion for another time. You need to wake up now; she wants you."

Naruto blinked. "Eh…?"

But Shinsō was already gone, along with his soul. The next thing he saw was the ceiling as his eyes opened.

"Naruto, are you awake?" came the muffled voice from the other side of his door. It was Hinata. Frantically he looked around from his clothes and quickly got decent.

"J-just a minute."

He got on some pants and hurried to the door, opening it quietly. "What's wrong?" he asked as held the door open. She poked her fingers together and blushed, but said nothing. He blinked at her curiously as she just stood there silently, not looking at him, but seeming to find the floor and the door frames very interesting.

At last she did look at his eyes, and he realized her desire. She wanted to be near him, to be close. When his eyes spotted something beneath her usual jacket, and recognized it, he wasted no time in stepping aside and allowing her to enter. When she'd cleared the door way, he closed it behind her and locked it.

The room was dark, with only one window on the far side facing out into the moonlit forest, but it had enough light for their trained eyes to see well enough without straining them.

Though he knew the probable reason for her arrival, he went ahead and asked anyway. Best not to make any assumptions. "What is it, Hinata?"

She didn't answer him. Instead she faced the window, and remained silent, the light from outside creating a faded silhouette around her. The sound of a zipper sliding down its teeth sounded out through the silent room, and Naruto's eyes widened when he saw her jacket fall from her arms. It was followed by her pants as she hooked her fingers on the waistline and quietly pulled them down, letting them pool around her feet.

What Naruto saw was what he'd thought he'd seen before; beneath her jacket and pants, she wore a nice, violet nightgown that went down to her mid thighs. It was clearly thin; not see through, it was enough to cause his heart to pound with ever increasing ferocity. She didn't say anything as she turned and faced him, but merely looked down at her hands which were folded in front of her chest.

When at last she glanced up at his eyes, he understood what she wanted. "…Ok… c'mon…"

He stepped forward and led her over to the bed. Pulling the covers back, he let her slide in first, placing her on the side by the wall, while he took the outside.

To his surprise, as soon as he pulled the covers over them, she pulled him close, closer than he would have thought possible. He almost exclaimed as she buried her head in his chest and pushed her body up to his, unknowingly grinding her pelvis into his, hard, which sent shivers running up and down his spine. He could feel her chest on his own vaguely through her gown, and he was about to wonder if this was really the night he would lose his virginity, when he realized the hiccupping sound of breathing and sniffling.

He looked down and saw that she was crying. "Hey, hey… what's wrong?" He lifted her chin to look her in the face.

Her eyes were half shut and leaking tears of… some emotion. But what emotion and why? She hiccupped and sobbed for the longest time before she finally spoke.

"I-I t-thought I w-was g-going to l-l-lose you…! Back t-then…!" His gaze narrowed, knowing she was talking about his near death at that Orochimaru's hand. In truth, he hadn't given it much thought, since his actions afterward were the more prevailing thoughts on his mind. But as he looked back on it, he remembered his chest burning, his heart refusing to beat, and his head throbbing. All of that all the more painful to bear because he could still see and hear Hinata crying over him, her voice and image growing fainter by the second, even as he was powerless to comfort her.

He closed his eyes, understanding. He spoke no words, but simply placed a hand on her head and pulled her into his chest. There was nothing to say. But he was here. He was alive. And for as long as he could help it, he wasn't going anywhere. If he ever fought that Orochimaru again, things would be different.

But for the moment, he simply allowed the girl in his bed to weep away her tears, and comforted her until they both fell asleep, held in each other's arms.

"Does the seal hurt anymore?" The old Hokage asked as he adjusted the equally old pipe in his mouth.

Anko smirked, pulling her coat back over her shoulders and thread-mail shirt. "No… It's much better now, thank you."

Ever since her brief, and perhaps rash confrontation with Orochimaru in the Forest of death the day before, her Curse Seal of Heaven, the one she'd gotten so long ago from the same man, began acting up, sending debilitating waves of pain shooting through her body. Thankfully, the Third Hokage wasn't nicknamed "The Professor" for nothing; he knew a trick or two to erase the pain.

Izumo shook his head. Even after hearing all about it, he found it difficult to believe. "I don't get it. Orochimaru is one of the three legendary Leaf ninja, and an S-listed missing nin in the bingo book that even the ANBU can't touch. Why would he come back to the village now of all times?"

"Or at all for that matter," Kotetsu added from beside him. "I'd heard he'd died a while ago."

Anko thought back to her fight and remembered what the man had said during it. "It's probably…"

"-Uchiha Sasuke, right?" finished the old man knowingly.

She nodded. "Yeah, probably."

He sighed deeply. "I feared as much…" He paused and looked around, looking for, and not finding someone who should have been there. "Where's Gin and Kakashi? I thought I'd called for them."

Kotetsu and Izumo shared a look and shrugged.

Sarutobi was about to send one of them out to fetch them when the TV that was in the room beeped, drawing their attention.

"Hokage-sama, Hatake Kakashi-san and Ichimaru Gin have just arrived!" the man on the camera said even as the two men walked past him.

"I guess that answers that question."

Anko turned to the Hokage curiously. "What do you want with them? Kakashi I can kind of understand, since he used to be an ANBU captain, but isn't that Ichimaru guy a newbie jounin?"

The man nodded. "He is, but he's also strong. Plus, this concerns him just as much as Kakashi. You'll see when they get here."

He was almost cut off as the door opened, revealing the men in question as they filed in.

"You called Lord Hokage?" Kakashi asked as Gin sat on the back of the couch, placing his feet on the cushions.

"Yes. Apparently there's been a development in the exam this year."

The Cyclops blinked. "A development…?"

"Yes. You're aware of the man named Orochimaru, yes?"

He didn't need to say more for Kakashi to understand. "Him… of all times for him to return… why is he here? Has he made demands?"

"Yes to the second and we don't know to the first. All he's told us is that we shouldn't stop the exams, no matter what."

"Kind of an odd thing for a guy like him to want," the one-eyed man mused.

"Well, we have a pretty good idea why," Sarutobi continued, tipping his hat forward. Kakashi looked at him expectantly.

"He claims to have placed the curse mark on one of the exam's participants; someone from your team."

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "…Who." It wasn't a question.

"Uchiha Sasuke, unless there's another Uchiha in the test we don't know about," Anko answered, leaning back into the couch.

There was a growl that reverberated around the room, clearly from Kakashi. "That man…"

"Erm, hope ya don't mind my interruptin' but who's this Orochimaru fella?" Gin asked, speaking for the first time since arriving. Anko gave him a curious look. Didn't every jounin in Konoha know about her old sensei?

"Ah that's right, you don't know. He was once a pupil of mine, until things went sour. He has an addiction for ninjutsu and a grudge against Konoha for not making naming him Fourth Hokage."

"Is he insane?"

"Very much not. An insane man we could deal with easily. Orochimaru, not so much. He's one of the smartest men I've ever known, and he's extremely powerful and charismatic. However, he has a tendency to be cold hearted and ruthless. For example, Anko here was once his student. One day he placed the Curse Seal on her and then abandoned her."

Gin raised an eyebrow. "And the Curse Seal is…?"

"A forbidden technique he created. It's a mark that he puts on those who interest him. It's got a one-to-ten survival ratio, but those who live are given incredible power," Anko explained while rubbing her shoulder tenderly. "Unfortunately, it's not really good for you, since it eats away at your body."

"And Sasuke's been given it too… This really is a turn of events," continued Kakashi. "We should seal it immediately. There's no telling what might happen if we wait."

The old man hrmm-ed quietly to himself for a moment before pondering aloud, "I'm concerned about that actually. Normally I'd agree, but I'm worried we may have to do a preliminary match for the third exam. If we need to, and Sasuke hasn't recovered from the sealing, what do we do…?"

"If we don't seal it now, it may get out of hand later during the preliminaries!" Anko countered. "If we have to we can always give him a pass to the third exam!"

The man remained silent, mentally debating whether or not to do as she suggested. "If we did, it could be shown as simple favoritism on our part, and wouldn't show very well to our allies," Kotetsu added. "If anything, we need to know how long he'll be out after being sealed. Is there a usual time?"

"It varies per person. Weaker one's take longer than others," Sarutobi said matter-of-factly.

"I say go for it."

They turned to Gin, who'd spoken. "Sasuke's strong. If anythin' it puts 'im at a disadvantage cuz he ain't got proper restin' time."

Hiruzen looked to Kakashi, who after some seconds nodded. He mirrored the action. "Very well then. In the morning, Kakashi will seal him."

The jounin nodded in agreement. Then his expression (for what it was worth, due to his mask) changed. Hiruzen could have sworn he saw the spark or recognition, or perhaps remembrance in his eye, and he looked to Gin.

They shared a look and Gin nodded, before spinning around and slipping of the back of the couch. "We've got somethin' to tell you…" he began cryptically.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and waited for them to continue. What he heard next, he was completely unprepared for.

Two days later

Naruto yawned as he strolled through the tower. He'd just had breakfast, as did everyone else who'd completed the exam, as twelve-o'clock that morning had marked the end of the second test. He'd already seen some of the members of the Konoha troupe, and had heard the Sound team they'd fought against had come in at around nine-o'clock the previous night. They were the last to be admitted into the tower.

Sasuke had disappeared the morning after they'd arrived, but Kakashi-sensei had assured them both that he was being taken care of, which put them at ease.

Speaking of mornings, the morning he'd woken up with Hinata was the most rested and satisfying morning he'd ever had. It had been awkward when he'd woken up with the ever-present problem that all men have in the morning engorged to its maximum size and pressing snugly next to the sleeping Hinata's abdomen. He quickly readjusted himself, purposefully making it as painful as possible for himself, but effectively solving the problem. Any other time he would have ignored it, since he didn't like "taking care of it" for multiple reasons, but with Hinata right next to him, it would have been reeeeally embarrassing for her to wake up with his dick half-way to her breasts. Though he didn't know who'd probably be more embarrassed.

Allowing that thought to pass into oblivion, he'd waited until she woke up, greeting her with a tender kiss to her forehead and then to her lips, before trying to get out of bed. After getting up, they got dressed and cleaned up before heading out to the small cafeteria for breakfast. They walked hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder the whole way, but hesitantly separated as they came into the company of other chunin and genin. Since then, they'd just spent their time together, sleeping next to each other again last night and waking up in a similar manner that morning.

There really wasn't much to do other than just explore. During their time alone, the night previous, he'd explained everything he could to Hinata about his psychotic "problem" and about his powers. She'd suggested they try and practice with them, but Naruto declined, not knowing whether they were safe to test or not. Since they were instinctual, he figured he'd just learn their limits during battle.

He certainly didn't want to hurt her by testing his new, untamed powers with her around, though he doubted he'd have to wait long to be able to try them out; this morning they'd woken up with a note under the door saying they were all to meet up in the main assembly hall, and gave directions on how to get there. Going back to her room, Hinata had found an identical note under her door. Obviously the five days of the second exam were up, so this must be the passing ceremony, or something.

Hinata had gone ahead to the cafeteria to grab a drink and maybe a small snack, so he made his way there to meet her. Halfway there, he found her making her way back to him. Joining each other, they moved along toward the main hall, where everyone else was no doubt waiting.

It took several minutes before they reached it. It was a large room surrounded by concrete walls and stone-tile floors. Both sides of the room had balconies that ran along their entire length. At the other end of the room, there was a large structure of a pair of forearms, their hand's placed together in a ram seal. In the middle of the room, toward its front, stood the six other teams who'd apparently completed the second exam. There was the sound team on the very right, from where he was standing anyway, followed by what looked like the team of that Sand guy who'd talked to them while they were in line for the scrolls before the second test began. What was his name again? Gaara something-or-other?

Next to his team was Kabuto's, with the boy himself standing in front of his two mates. Beside him stood the team of Hinata's cousin, Hyuuga Neji. He didn't even turn to acknowledge their arrival.

Next was Hinata's would-have-been team, with Kiba standing at their head. Shino stood behind him, followed by Sakura. Next to them was a team Naruto had never anticipated on seeing pass. The team comprising Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji stood in single file, as did everyone else.

'Wow, a slave-driver, an apathetic slob and a muncher. How the hell…' He shook his head at the absurdity of it. But what he saw next made them irrelevant. Beside them stood Sasuke, his hands pocketed and his eyes glaring at them amusedly, as if he were somehow superior for being there before them.

"Yo. You're late."

Naruto huffed at his remark, even as everyone's eyes settled on them as they entered. "Feh! Don't get so high and mighty. We're here now aren't we?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as his two teammates fell in behind him. "Either way, we've been waiting on you two to arrive before starting. You made us all wait."

Naruto crossed his arms apathetically. "That coming from you... you practically disappeared from the face of the earth, and you're telling us that we're late?"

Sasuke smirked, ignoring his comment. "Why don't you take a look, idiot? You might see something interesting." He pointed forward, and Naruto's gaze followed his finger.

In front of them stood an entourage of the jounin team-leaders; there was Gin-sensei and Kakashi-sensei standing next to the old Hokage, flanked by numerous other jounin Naruto either didn't recognize or didn't know by name. Even Iruka-sensei and the proctor of the first test was there. 'Oh yeah, that crazy lady from the beginning of the second test too.'

No less than twelve high-quality shinobi stood before them, looking at them all either proudly (probably directed more towards their own team) or indifferently.

But then Naruto saw someone else. Beside Gin stood a beautiful blonde haired woman. Dressed in the usual attire of a Konoha chunin, Naruto almost didn't recognize her. 'Wow, the Old Man must have given her a job as a chunin right off the bat. Hey wait a minute, that's not fair!' He pouted slightly as he realized he'd been able to stand toe-to-toe with her and yet she got chunin scot-free.

He grumbled under his breath and crossed his arms. However, the look he caught from Gin made him smile. It was only slightly different, but his smile gave off a sense of pride in the three genin. Naruto smirked 'Hehe, just watch me tou-san. I'll show you how strong I've become!'

"Your team isn't too bad. Maybe they were lucky." Gai said askance to Kakashi, standing proudly in his green spandex suit. "But as long as my team is around, getting any further is impossible."

Kakashi glanced to his right, eyeing the eccentric man with amusement. "Normally I'd agree with you, what with your insane training methods. But somehow I don't think it would be very nice of me to bet against my own team. Besides…" He narrowed his eye at the three of his students expectantly. "I have this feeling…"

Gai looked at him curiously, as if beckoning him to continue. Alas, the Cyclops only waved it off. "Well, either way we'll see who'll wins soon enough."

From beside him, Gin crossed his arms confidently, as if silently hinting that he wasn't worried. Beside him, Rangiku eyed him worriedly. She'd only just been instated to chunin, thanks to Gin's connections with the Hokage, but she couldn't say she entirely knew what she was doing. After speaking with the wizened old man several days before, they'd come to the conclusion that there was an open path to and from their world hidden somewhere in the Dangai. They still hadn't discovered how exactly she'd gotten through it, since Gin claimed he was the only one capable of doing so.

Regardless, Gin had requested she be given some sort of work or something, and after describing her talents and abilities to him, he'd decided on giving her the rank of "special chunin", if only for skill alone. Special chunin was an old rank that almost never got used anymore. Basically it was for someone who was physically capable to handle higher level missions, but because she didn't know hardly anything about their world, he couldn't go ahead and give her jounin status like he'd done with Gin.

But she'd been working on that. After they'd finished with her, Gin had taken her back to his small apartment and pulled out numerous books and scrolls that Naruto had used in the Academy and given them to her to study. She had to say there was a lot to learn about, but it wasn't too difficult. However, it did require that she stay focused and not slack off, which for her was a bit of a difficulty.

However, her studies didn't start right away. The first few nights of their being together, Gin had explained everything that had happened, and why he'd done it, though it was surprisingly difficult for him; he wasn't the explaining type, especially not when it came to personal things. She knew it must have been hard for him to do, and she'd cried more than once during his explanation.

However, when he'd finished, she couldn't help but feel… happy, about it. He'd cared so much about her and she hadn't even known…

Needless to say, the first few nights were spent loving each other dearly. Once wasn't enough for either of them. For Rangiku, it was like a spring of emotion had suddenly been released, emotion she didn't know she had. And for Gin, it was the release of so much love and dedication that he'd hidden from her for so long.

It had been passionate and needed. Even now she blushed a bit in remembrance. 'We haven't had a night like that in…' It had been at least a hundred years. Ever since Gin had joined the Shinigami Academy, their time together was cut extremely short, especially after he'd become lieutenant of fifth division so early, under Aizen's authority.

Even so… 'He certainly hasn't lost his touch,' she thought with a blush.

She gave a glance in the same man's direction, but his gaze was unreadable. The Hokage had suggested she be here simply to observe the trials by which genin become chunin. He explained it as something that would give her better insight into how their world worked. Indeed, she was already learning; having traveled through the forest ahead of the contestants, she could see how this place could be the end of several lives. And five days in there? It must have been torture.

"Hokage-sama will now explain the third test, so listen carefully!" Anko said loudly so they all could hear her. "Lord Hokage, if you please…"

"Yes…" he said as he drew a breath from his pipe. "For the coming third test… But before that, there is something I'd like you to know. It concerns the true reason for this exam."

Most of the students had the same look on their face. 'True reason…?'

"'To promote friendship among countries,' and 'to raise the level of shinobi.' I don't want you to be confused about the meaning. This exam is..." he lowered his head, a shadow of darkness passing over his eyes. "A replacement for war among allied countries."

TenTen blinked. "What does that mean?"

"If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage these countries chose for fighting was this; the beginnings of the chunin selection exam."

Naruto smirked. 'Heh, I see.'

Hinata felt kind of saddened. 'Even in peace, there is still conflict…'

"I don't get it," said Sakura who stood between behind Shino and Kiba. "I thought this was an exam to see who will become chunin."

"It's true that this exam decides which shinobi has what it takes to become chunin. But on the other hand this exam has another side, where each country's shinobi risk their own life to protect their land's prestige." Seeing the confused looks on several face, he elaborated. "There will be leaders and influential individuals from various countries watching the exam who make up the clientele of our shinobi nations. If the strength of that country is clear, they will receive more clients. If they not, they'll lose clients. And this will signal to potential enemy countries that 'we have this much power.' And so it will send a political message to outsiders."

"Yeah but why?" Kiba yelled, almost sounding offended. "Why do we have to risk our lives in battle?"

"The strength of the country is the strength of the village. The strength of the village is the strength of the shinobi, and a shinobi's true strength can only be born through life-risking battle. This exam is a place to see each country's strength, and to show off your own powers. It only has meaning because lives are at risk, and that is why those that have come before you have fought in the chunin exam for this dream that is meaningful."

"But then why do you say things about it being for 'friendship'?" TenTen asked, not understanding why there were so many inconsistencies in the story.

"I said it in the beginning; I don't want you to confuse the purpose of this. By losing life and establishing balance. That is the shape of the friendship in the world of shinobi. Now, before we begin, I'd like to tell you one more thing; this is not just a test… This is a life risking battle, with your dreams and your country's prestige on the line."

There was silence for a few seconds before it was broken by the cold, monotone voice of the youngest Sand ninja. "I don't care what it is. Just hurry up and tell us what this 'life-risking battle' entails. "

One of the jounin beside the Hokage stepped forward. In all honesty, he looked rather sickly…

"Actually, *cough* that's where I come in." He had shaggy dark-brown hair that sat beneath his bandana-forehead protector, and dark circles under his eyes, which were almost half lidded. He looked like he'd been battling the flu or something.

"Hey everyone. I'm Gekkou Hayate,*cough.* Before the third test, there's something I'd like you all to do. Um… It's a preliminary for the third exam, to decide who'll get to go on to the, *cough* main event."

"A preliminary? What are you talking about? Why aren't the people here allowed to participate?" Shikamaru all but yelled in indignation. He'd barely made it through the second test as it was; he didn't want to have to potentially take it again because he got knocked out in the preliminary round.

"Because the first and second tests may have been too easy, we have a lot more contestants than usual. According to chunin exam rules, we must have a preliminary and reduce the number of participants for the next round." Seeing the many outraged looks and murmurs among them, he continued. "As the Hokage just mentioned, there will be many guests at the third test, so the fights could take too long, and we're limited on time…"

Of course, even though the reason was valid, he expected them not to feel any better over it, and so proved the case. "*Cough* umm… anyways, those who aren't feeling well, or those who simply want to quit after these explanations, please come forward now, since we'll be starting the preliminary round immediately."

"What?" Kiba shouted in surprise. "Why now? Can't you give us a day to prepare or something?"

Hayate coughed into his fist and shook his head. "No can do. The suddenness is part the preliminaries, plus, you all got a guaranteed day of rest yesterday."

Naruto clenched his fist. 'Heh, guess I'll be able to test these powers sooner than I thought.' He looked behind him to see Hinata. To his surprise, she was looking at him, as if waiting to see if he was going to quit or not. He simply smiled at her, knowing she would understand. She nodded in response. Turning back, he saw Sasuke looking over his shoulder at them, and smirking at their silent agreement to continue.

"Um, I'd like to forfeit."

Naruto's eyes widened as he heard Kabuto's voice ring out. "What? Kabuto-san? Why?"

Kabuto looked at Naruto's incredulous face with a sense of apology. "Sorry Naruto-kun, but my body's all beat up. Honestly, I haven't been able to hear out of my left ear since before the first exam. And now we'll have to risk our lives… I just…"

Naruto looked at him sadly. Kabuto had seemed like a nice guy, and he really did feel bad about his decision.

'I would've liked to continue in this test with you guys, but I can't.' Kabuto adjusted his glasses, sending a sheen of light flashing over the lenses. 'Anymore of this… and that bad old blood will start to boil. Since I'm a spy, it wouldn't do any good to reveal myself here.'

"But, do me a favor you three…" he said as he stepped out of line and approached them. "Pass this exam for me. Maybe in the future you'll be the chunin who oversees this exam, and we'll meet again."

Naruto made a face that clearly said he didn't like the boy's decision, but Kabuto simply patted the boy on the head. "Haha, keep looking cute like that and no one'll take you seriously."

Naruto's reaction was an instant glare of irritation and Kabuto removed his hand smiling. "Much better." He said nothing else as he turned and left, waving at them sympathetically.

Though he didn't see it, Naruto's face softened. It was sad to see him go. Even though he'd just met him a few days prior, he felt a sort of brotherly bond with the silver haired boy, not like an equal, but like a senior; an older brother of sorts. But the choice to quit was his decision, not anyone else's, and Naruto had no option but to respect it.

"Anyone else…?" The sickly proctor asked one final time, just to make sure. No one spoke, raised their hands, or made any motion to signal they would give up.

"Alright then… *cough* Lets begin then. Since we have twenty participants, the ten winners will continue on to the third round of the exam. This preliminary will consist of one-on-one fighting, just like a real life confrontation. *Cough,* There are basically no rules; the fight continues until one of you is knocked out or admits defeat. If you don't wanna die, then you should probably make sure we know you're giving up. But when I decide a winner has been clearly established, that's the end, since we don't want to needlessly increase the body count. I might jump in and stop things if the winner is obvious."

A panel to the upper left of the wall behind the forearm-statue opened up, revealing a small screen. "Now, I know this is sudden, but let's announce the two names of the first fight."

The screen suddenly began shuffling through those near two dozen names of those now in the small arena, drawing everyone's attention to it. They all waited with baited breath for the concluding matchup. Who would it be? Who would have the pleasure of first blood?

Naruto felt the beginnings of a bead of sweat on his cheek, even as he looked up at the scrolling board with almost unrestrained excitement.

At last the name's stopped with a prolonged beep. Two names stood out.

Hayate looked at them and then back to the ninja in front of him. "Akado Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke, please remain here. The rest of you, please head to the upper balconies."

Naruto sighed regrettably and turned to follow everyone else as they made their way to the back of the room where the stairs were. "Didn't know the Uchiha were infamous for their luck," he said as he passed by Sasuke, giving him a nudging brush with his shoulder. "Try and make it entertaining."

Sasuke smirked. "Heh, don't blink, idiot."

Naruto leaned his head back to be heard. "That's why I said make it entertaining."

Hinata followed Naruto, giving Sasuke an encouraging wave. "Have fun Sasuke-kun!"

He gave a slight wave back, as if in a get-going-already way, and smiled as they ran up the stairs to the balcony on the right side of the room. He faced back to the front only to see all the jounin teachers flash to the balconies without a sound, standing behind their assigned teams.

Looking to his right, his opponent stood there, waiting. 'One of Kabuto's teammates, huh? That's too bad.'

Hayate waited until everyone was situated and raised his hands up to shoulder height. "*Cough,* ok, is everyone ready?"

Both of them nodded.

"*Cough, cough,* begin."

Yoroi's face was masked, so Sasuke couldn't see what expression was on his face, and his eyes were completely black, both having single-lens sunglasses over them. He leaned forward with his right palm flexing strangely. Sasuke almost laughed. "Sorry, but I'm going to end this in a flash."

"I wonder if you can…" Yoroi said as a blue aura of chakra appeared in his flexing hand.

Sasuke eyed the hand and huffed out softly. 'Like I won't realize to stay away from it. What's he take me for, Naruto?'

"Bring it."

Yoroi rushed forward, lunging with his outstretched arm to grab Sasuke, who merely sidestepped every attempt, not even bothering to take his hands out of his pockets.

"Ugh, hold still!"

Then he was gone.

'What?'

Where once Sasuke had been standing was now only empty space. But then he heard a voice behind him. "I'm pretty sure I said don't blink."

Yoroi whirled, only to receive a smashing, chop to the neck. Before he even hit the ground, Sasuke followed up with a reverse kick that landed in between his stomach and breast-plate, sending him flying away and skidding across the floor, coming to a gradual halt some meters away.

Sasuke retracted his leg and waited for Yoroi to stand back up, but he never did. Curiously, he looked over to Hayate, and then back to Yoroi. He didn't budge. Hayate took the hint and walked over, stooping to check on the boy. After a few seconds, he stood again. "Akado Yoroi cannot continue, thus, the winner is Uchiha Sasuke."

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "Well, wasn't that fun! He said overenthusiastically to his two students in front of him."

Naruto huffed. "More like a killjoy. It's like a watching an overhyped movie and already knowing the ending."

"But, it's to be expected," Hinata said with a smile. "It's our Sasuke after all."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Still a boring movie. I HAD TO BLINK TWICE YOU SLACKER!"

Below him, Sasuke glared up at him and shot him the finger, to which Naruto sniggered satisfactorily.

Beside them, Sakura yelled out excitedly, cheering on Sasuke's coolness, which was echoed with almost competitive effort by Ino across the room.

Their balcony was shared by team three, comprised of Kiba, Shino, and Sakura, and team "Gai" which was comprised of Hyuuga Neji, TenTen and Lee. On the other side of the room, team how-the-fuck-did-they-pass (Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji) shared a balcony with the Sand and the Sound village teams.

TenTen watched as Neji stared down "impassively" at the Uchiha as he headed up the stairs to join his team. He may have looked stoic, but she knew him better; he was, ever so slightly, intimidated. 'Last year's rookie was Hyuuga Neji. This year's rookie is Uchiha Sasuke. I wonder which is stronger,' she thought with a smile.

The board began shuffling names again, stopping after several tense seconds on two new names. "Aburame Shino and Abumi Zaku, please come down to the floor."

Zaku pushed off of the railing he'd been leaning on, his arms done up in slings, having almost been broke from the force of Naruto's berserker kick earlier in the forest. "Heh, who's this loser?"

As Sasuke walked over to meet his team, he brushed past the high-collar-coated boy in sunglasses who could only have been that Shino guy.

"Come on Shino! Kick his butt! Yeah!"

Naruto looked over to the cheering Sakura, only to see a smug looking Kiba and a confident looking Kurenai-sensei.

"Hmph, like she needs to cheer…" Naruto mumbled under his breath. "He can't even use his arms."

Hinata looked at Naruto as he spoke and then looked back at the Sound nin below, activating her Byakugan curiously. As her vision became monochrome and piercing, she blinked in surprise. "A-actually Naruto-kun, neither of his arms are broken; they only have hairline fractures running down the length of his forearms."

Naruto looked at her in surprise. "Really? I could have sworn I heard them crack…"

"W-well, he has two tubes in his arms that are probably used for his jutsu. They probably added extra support when you hit him."

"He can't still use them, can he?"

Even as he asked, the boy in question below pulled an arm out of its sling, yelling something about it being enough to take Shino out.

"Guess that answers my question…" he mumbled as a shockwave of air hit him in the face from below. Shielding his eyes only slightly, since the air pressure wasn't that bad, he was able to see Shino roll away from the blast. "…He out?"

Hinata peered on carefully. "No… I don't think so…" She hesitated for a second, only to gasp aloud. Worried, Naruto turned to her questioningly.

"What is it?"

"B-b-bugs! His body is completely infested with bugs!"

Naruto turned back to the rising figure of Shino, the smoke around him clearing to reveal small black dots on his cheek and collar. One might have thought it was only blood, until they saw it all move in a random, very un-blood-like direction; up.

"Ah, the Aburame clan. I've met a few. Apparently they make a contract with the bugs when they're born, trading their bodies as nests in return for the insects' loyalty and obedience," Kakashi said and he watched. "They're really quite frightening."

"Y-you mean they actually let insects live inside of them?" Rangiku said from beside Gin, who looked similarly interested.

"Mhm, whole swarms."

Gai looked over to where his rival's team stood and smiled. "Oh, there's a pretty new face I haven't seen before!" he exclaimed in Rangiku's direction. "They call me Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast; Maito Gai!"

He smiled, the light somehow gleaming off his teeth as he gave her what they would later call his "nice-guy" pose, cocking his thumb back at himself.

Rangiku blinked at him. "Um… nice to meet you? I'm Matsumoto Rangiku." No one would know how hard it was for her not to continue and say her division number and rank. Her title was as much a part of her name as her breasts were part of her body.

"My, what a magnificent creature you are! I would be honored if after these exams you would permit me to date you!"

She blinked again. "…eh…?"

"Oooh! Gai-sensei! Always so cool!" Lee cried out as he watched his favorite teacher using his manly charms.

"Erm, Gai, you should probably know-…" Kakashi tried to warn before Gai found his face centimeters from a very pointy, and very threatening wakizashi.

Gin leered down at him, a deep, dark shadow crossing over his features in an almost comical way.

"Mine."

It was just one word, but Gai hesitantly stepped backwards, hands to his face in an apologetic way. "Ah… I see… I was unaware… forgive me…"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "He's messing with you. Relax."

Gai smiled at them as Gin returned the sword back to its home in its sheath. "I guessed it was something like that, but I didn't think you were in relationship."

Gin shrugged. "I play 'em pretty close to the chest."

Gai smiled even brighter. "Ah! A shining example of youthful emotions! Regardless of what the world may think, I respect you, Ichimaru-san!"

Gin half sweat-dropped. "…Thanks?"

Kakashi sighed from beside his comrade. "Sorry, that's just how Gai is. Try and bear with it."

Gin shook his head. "Not a problem. I like him." He looked over to the man and was silent for a moment. "But that suit scares me."

Kakashi nodded admittedly. "Yeah, that's normal."

"Winner *cough*, Aburame Shino."

They turned back to the arena to find Zaku in the ground, his right arm missing, and his left arm barely hanging from his body. Naruto's eyebrows twitched as he watched Shino return to their balcony. "Man… I really don't want to fight a guy like him…" he mumbled.

Hinata, more in an attempt to act brave in the face of… well, creepy-crawly insects than actual encouragement stammered out, "D-don't worry Naruto-kun, I-I'm sure you would win."

Naruto huffed. "I know I'd win. I'm just saying, I don't want to fight him."

Hinata remained quiet and turned back to the next fight that was about to begin. While Kiba and Sakura congratulated Shino on his victory, the next two combatants had been called down from their perches.

"Misumi Tsurugi… and Kankuro…" Sasuke muttered under his breath. His eyes narrowed on both of them. 'Another of Kabuto's teammates, and one of those Sand guys…' He smirked. 'This should be interesting.'

The match was short. Tsurugi, despite his warnings that he'd follow through, snapped Kankuro's neck like it was nothing. Naruto shivered at the sound. "That's nasty…"

"…How terrible…" Rangiku whispered to no one in particular. 'Children killing children... that's barbaric.' Even in the Gotei Thirteen, very few shinigami were children. They might have looked young, but they'd lived a long time before that. Gin was one of the few youths to be able to pass at such a young age. But even then, his case was an extreme rarity. The fact was she'd seen children die before, though always to a Hollow. Never to other children.

"It's the way of the Shinobi," Kakashi said in response. He didn't look at her, and instead kept his focus on the two below him. "The Shinigami have their way, and we have ours, however different they may be."

"You're all stupid."

The four of them turned to Sasuke, his right eye closed and his left eye half open in mock boredom, the Sharingan just barely visible between his lids. "It's not over yet."

Naruto and Hinata looked back to the scene, reexamining it for clues as to how a dead person could still win a fight. Hinata was the first to see it, with her Byakugan being the more suitable of their three Kekkei Genkai to see it.

Then Naruto noticed it as well. His Rinnegan afforded him vision similar to what Sasuke described the Sharingan gave him; the ability to see chakra, and with time and practice, even the nature of the chakra itself. Right now, Naruto was probably seeing the same thing Sasuke was; thin strings of chakra that led from the limbs of th

e dead boy's body, back into the strange bundle he'd been forced to drop when he was attacked by Tsurugi.

Hinata could see even more than that. She saw what those strings were attached to. "He's-!"

She didn't have time to announce it before the head of the "boy" did a full one-eighty, spinning to laugh victoriously in Tsurugi's face. "Is it my turn now?"

The Leaf genin wasn't even given time to respond before his opponent's hands reversed their joints and wrapped around him, along with a second pair of arms that sprouted from his midsection.

Just as quickly, the bundled object Kankuro had dropped at the onset of Tsurugi's initial attack shifted slightly as a hand appeared out of the bandages. With a tug, the bandages flew apart, revealing the hidden Kankuro inside.

"T-this is… a puppet?" Tsurugi exclaimed in surprise.

Naruto titled his head to the side. "Puppet? I see, so that's what those strings of chakra were for. They control the dummy while the master hides in safety."

Sasuke smirked. "Looks like it."

"Isn't that kind of unfair though? I mean, it's almost two versus one," Hinata objected, looking at Kakashi for his opinion.

"Actually, a puppet is simply another ninja tool. Like kunai or shuriken, its equipment. Besides, a puppet user's weakness is that they're notoriously long-distanced. Hand to hand combat really isn't their thing."

Sasuke eyed the black-clad lad as he cleaned up his match below. "H'n… I'll keep that in mind."

Naruto exhaled as Tsurugi fell to the ground, half-crushed by the constricting force of Kankro's puppet's strength. "Geez… Kabuto's team isn't having any luck today. Probably a good thing he left I guess."

"Well, he did warn us," agreed Sasuke as he shifted his position against the railing.

"Winner, Kankuro."

"These things are kind of brutal…" Rangiku commented quietly, her eye narrowing as the medical team came over and picked up Tsurugi's limp body.

"Ignoring the sociological difference between your world and ours, we are soldiers after all. We've all chosen this path, and we're willing to walk it. It's not like we're blindsided."

"Still…" She trailed off as the next two names to be chosen cycles on the screen.

Naruto turned to Hinata as the board did its thing, smiling mischievously. "Hey Hina-chan, if we get pair up against each other, want me to forfeit for ya?"

Hinata flinched in surprise. "W-what? No! You shouldn't forfeit for me! If you do you'll have to wait for next year!

Naruto smirked askance. "I know, but I had to ask, since you would probably be the one to forfeit for me."

Hinata blinked. Was she that open? "Naruto-kun… I-"

"Don't."

She flinched again. His voice wasn't cold, but rather, was warm and comforting. "Don't quit. If we have to fight each other, let's agree to go all out. If it comes down to it, I don't want you giving up without trying."

Hinata smiled, despite herself. Honestly, she had already considered the possible fight, and decided she'd allow Naruto to pass in her place. "B-but you're stronger than me anyway, so I don't really think have much of a chance…"

"Except you know me best." Naruto turned and eyed her, as if he were trying to get across another meaning to the phrase. "You know my weaknesses better than anyone else here, save Sasuke, dad, and Kakashi-sensei, and you can use them to your advantage."

"But you also know mine…" she offered in flailing defense.

Naruto smiled and closed his eyes. He thought she'd say that. "Heh, as if I'd ever think of using your weaknesses against you. Especially you."

She shivered as he whispered out that last part directly to her, eyeing her knowingly. She knew what he meant; a man would never dream of taking advantage of his one true love, Naruto above all. 'Of course… Naruto would never consider something like that.' It was a matter of principle.

Then a thought entered her mind, and she smiled mentally, holding her finger to her chin cutely. "T-then d-d-does that mean you won't p-p-p-protect me if we fight…?"

Naruto's expression faltered for a moment before he realized his error in words. He blushed embarrassedly as he waved his hands in front of him "N-no, no! Of course I'd protect you too! I'd never hurt you!"

"B-but if we fight then you'll have to attack me… So…" She turned away, but peeked at him with the corner of her eyes as he humorously sputtered an apologetic explanation of what he meant. Sadly, words failed him. Knowing he wasn't doing any better than he was a few seconds earlier, he slumped his shoulder and merely returned to leaning over the railing gloomily.

Hinata snickered at him cutely and nuzzled up next to him, holding his left arm with both hands as she leaned against him encouragingly.

Gin chuckled silently behind them as he watched. He'd been convinced of it for a while, and he'd die proclaiming that Hinata was the best thing that had ever happened to Naruto. Sure he'd been fine without her, but there was just something about love that makes men do the craziest things. Naruto was already a crazy kid, and him being in love made him all the worse. The thing was… "I think he's rubbin' off on her," he said only loud enough for Rangiku to hear.

She looked at him, and then the two young teens. "You mean besides the fact that they're actually rubbing against each other?"

Gin laughed, bringing a smile to Rangiku's face. "Haha, yeah…" He eyed his students' backs, a fond gleam in his unseen eyes. "They're good fer each other. She's got confidence issues, an' he's got confidence to spare. Not ta mention his playful side can be a bit… excessive."

Rangiku looked pointedly at Hinata's back. "And she's caught it?"

Gin's grin increased. "Like the flu."

"Regardless…" Kakashi began, turning away from where he'd been listening to them. "I doubt it will end up with them against each oth-"

"I won't give up Sasuke!"

Kakashi blinked and turned back to the center of the large room. "Ohh? I missed the lineup… Who is it?" he cocked his head to Sasuke. The Uchiha in question was leaning against the railing, his back deliberately directed toward the combatants now behind him.

"Tell me when they're finished," he said dismissively, completely ignoring his sensei's question.

His interest piqued due to his student's disinterest, he looked beyond him to see for himself who it was. "Well isn't that a curious thing?" he asked rhetorically, a smile forming beneath his mask, cocking his head at the raven-haired boy. "Aren't they, like, your biggest fans?"

The Uchiha's dismissive posture didn't change. "If you have nothing constructive to say, then be silent."

Kakashi chuckled under his breath as he looked back to the arena. "Haruno Sakura and… Yamanaka Ino, was it? By what odds did they get matched against each other?"

Gin turned to his colleague. "They got some history?"

The Cyclops shrugged. "A bit. I think they were friends once, until their rival-love for Sasuke drove them apart."

Sasuke snorted. "Tch, 'love' my ass. They only like me for my looks."

"'Cause your personality's so attractive, right Sasuke?" Naruto said, perking up.

The Uchiha gave his teammate with a one-eyed glare. "Like yours is much better."

Naruto grinned from ear to ear as his left arm snaked around Hinata's waist, pulling her to him tightly and causing her to eep! in surprise. "Yeah, but I have a girlfriend."

Sasuke made a tsk-ing sound in the back of throat and looked the opposite way with a slight grin. "Heh, you got lucky."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a grin. "Well, I can't disagree with you there," he said as he turned his gaze to look lovingly at Hinata. She blushed under his eyes and averted her gaze nervously.

The three genin flinched at the loud slam of skin on skin as the two girls fighting nailed each other in the jaw, each hard enough to send the other flying several meters away from the contact point.

Naruto winced sympathetically. "Ooo… that's gonna leave a mark."

"Are they ok?" Hinata asked worriedly as Hayate took a few steps forward to examine them.

TenTen grinned from her place by her team, which was nearby. "They're completely out of it."

As if the reinforce her theory, Hayate turned back to the observing audience. "Because neither participants are able to battle, this battle is a draw due to double knock-out. As a result, both contestants are disqualified."

"W'll that sucks."

"Oh good, I can turn around now."

"Kinda cold considering they were railing about you half the match, isn't it?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Obsessed fan-girls are the least of my concerns. They've been that way since before the Academy."

Naruto gave him a lopsided stare. "You know what they say; dunno what you've got until you lose it."

Sasuke's eyes rolled upward, as if he were considering it. "You make it sound like a bad thing."

Kakashi chuckled nervously and placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Why don't you give one of them a try Sasuke?" he asked, before leaning in to speak quietly in his ear. "You remember what we talked about in Wave right? It couldn't hurt to give one a chance could it?"

Sasuke deftly looked to his left. Seeing Naruto's attention drawn away, he murmured back, "And which one would you suggest? Both are flat-chested, skin-showing, vain, long-haired , near pre-teens."

He turned away, his point momentarily made. Kakashi was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "In the end, it's your decision. But just remember they won't always be that way. Girls usually mature into women pretty quick you know."

Sasuke eyed him skeptically. "'…Usually?'"

Kakashi's eye squinted in a smile. "Well, I can't speak for everyone. Just think about it, ok?"

Sasuke turned away, back to the expansive room. "…Fine."

After a moment, Kakashi nodded to himself and backed away, back to his spot on the wall behind his student.

In all honesty, Sasuke wasn't opposed to the idea of a girlfriend, or at least, "significant other." The only problem was that with half of the girls his age practically fawning over him, it was difficult to consider any of them as decent dating material. Granted some of them were attractive, but attractive girls were a dime a dozen; how could he ever be expected to find the good ones. If he was going to date someone, it couldn't be some flaky priss who only saw his handsome looks. In all honesty, though he had his preferences, looks really didn't matter to him; he wanted someone who would love him, would be dutiful to him as a wife (if they even got that far) and who was strong. Now, not necessarily strong, as in powerful, though that might be a bonus, but rather strong as in… independent. Capable. Unafraid to handle herself.

No one he'd seen so far was even close to fitting those criteria. Even Hinata, for as strong as she was becoming, wasn't in his sights. Well, she wouldn't be anyway, since she was so "lovingly devoted to her one and only love, Naruto-kun" that the idea of being a wife to anyone else probably would make her vomit violently at the thought. Not exactly willing material.

Anyway, she was taken, and he respected (begrudgingly, mind you) his blonde headed idiot of a teammate for his catch… However the hell he caught her in the first place, he'd never know. And by no means would he ask him for tips. 'Heh, he'd probably just shrug his shoulders, pull Hinata over and say he had no idea how he got such a beautiful, angelic, wonderful, blah blah blah girl.'

He chuckled to himself at the thought. As abstract as his rhetoric predictions of Naruto's actions in any given scenario were, he could always see them coming true with relative ease. Whether that particular ability was a gift or a curse had yet to be seen, but he was almost always right. 'Maybe I just know them too well… Probably.'

He shook head had and returned to his earlier thoughts. 'Ino or Sakura, huh…? I wonder…' He gazed forward, unblinking, his eyes focusing on nothing in front of him. Both of them, physically, had a long way to go. They were "cute," granted, but that was a far cry from what he had in mind. The fact that he liked long hair on girls had somehow become common knowledge at some point during the Academy phase, and practically every girl began growing their hair out in an attempt to impress him… or at least catch his eye.

As he looked back on it, the only person who didn't was Hinata. In all likelihood, it was probably because of her poor self-image, at the time anyway. But he didn't know that. He just thought that all the girls were enraptured with him, and indeed it seemed like he was right. At that point he just ignored all of them. Hinata was simply another one of those girls to him. 'As I look back on it, it should have been obvious; she wasn't eyeing me at all. The only one who wasn't interested in me at all, was ironically the only one who cared for Naruto, the only one who wasn't cared for.'

But it was too late to regret that ignorant decision now. He'd made his choice, and she'd made hers.

"Winner, Temari."

The words were quiet to his ears, but loud enough to softly jarred him from his thoughts, bringing him back to reality, to the present.

"Man, that's brutal." Naruto grimaced at the scene below him.

The girl from the Sand village team had completely obliterated the girl from the team beside them (TenTen, if he remembered the name correctly).

"What happened?" Sasuke asked looking Naruto curiously.

"Weren't you watching? That Temari chick just owned the girl from their team." He cocked his thumb past Sasuke, pointing to where Lee and Neji stood, their sensei watching the fight from behind them.

"Hm, how boring," came the victorious voice of the blonde female.

TenTen was bent over backwards, quite literally, on Temari's battle-fan, having landed on it due to her jutsu. Blood trickled down, or rather, up her face, considering she was almost hanging upside down from her position.

"I… I think it was a Wind technique…" Naruto muttered. Hinata looked at him curiously.

"How do you know?"

"I don't know. I just… I look at it and… somehow recognize it. I think it may be because of…" he trailed off and tapped the side of his head at eye level, not wanting to mention his gift in the presence of potential opponents.

Hinata made a face of realization. It was strange how easy she was beginning to accept the strange things that supposedly came from his newfound Kekkei Genkai. Really, all the things he did during the second test, even if it wasn't consciously done… all the things he was beginning to discover… it seemed too fantasy-like for a single bloodline ability to grant so many amazing powers.

Their attention was drawn away from each other however, when Termari's bored, but victorious, barely-there smile took on a more menacing and cold-hearted appearance.

Hinata's eyes widened as she realized what she wanted to do, while Naruto's eyes just narrowed in unexpressed disappointment and anger. "S-she's not going to…!" she stammered in disbelief, even as Temari shifted her weight and threw the unconscious TenTen from her battle-fan, not at all caring that she would land harshly on the numerous, scattered, and needless to say sharp weapons around her.

Before Naruto even considered the idea to try and use his new powers to keep her from landing, Lee had left his position on the balcony beside them and flashed down to the floor, catching the defeated girl just in time to keep her from hitting the ground. He slid back a meter, his feet pushing weapons away from his path as he slid.

"Nice catch," Temari said with a menacing grin.

"What are you doing?" Lee raged at her angrily. "Is this how you treat someone who gave her all in battle?"

She snorted uncaringly. "Shut up and take that loser out of here."

His eyes instantly burned at her, and without warning, he charged. "Konoha Senpū!"

Temari quickly brought her closed fan up vertically to bock his horizontal sweep. Metal and muscle met with a clang, Temari's fan budging only slightly. She smirked at him. "Just as I thought, you're as weak as you look."

"What did you say?" Lee growled as he glowered at her.

"Lee! That's enough!" Gai said as he jumped down to the arena floor. Lee reluctantly did as he was told, and Temari let out a mumbled curse, having lost the opportunity to fight him too.

"Temari! Get up here. You're the winner, so stop messing around with that pathetic guarding guy." The monotone voice, though low, cut through the room like a knife. They all looked up at the youngest boy on the Sand team. He was looking down at Termari with a strange expression, as if he were disappointed that she would waste her time fighting him.

And like a child might to a parent, Temari complied, holstering her fan on her back and returning to her brothers.

Lee clenched his teeth and turned away, walking back over to pick TenTen up as the medical team came out. Gai watched him go before turning back to the foreign ninja above him. "Genin of the Sand… I'd like to warn you about something, if that's alright."

The three blinked in surprise, and Gai looked up at them confidently. "Don't underestimate him."

None of them made any sort of facial expression to show they acknowledged his words, but he knew they'd heard him, and whether they wanted to or not, there would be a bit a trepidation when any of them faced Lee. By simply suggesting they shouldn't underestimate him, it indicated there was more to him than what was apparent, which, while true, they didn't know.

They were broken from their thoughts by the sickly proctor. "*Cough cough* if you'll clear the floor, we need to get on with the next match."

Gai nodded and move away as the medical team took TenTen away on a stretcher while a cleanup crew began picking up all the weapons.

"Them Sand fellas 're serious folks," Gin said aloud, though the fact was painfully obvious regardless.

Naruto grinned despite himself. "Kinda makes me excited for my match." He eyed the remaining opponents carefully. 'Shikamaru, the two from Sound, that Gaara guy from the Sand, Hinata, Lee, and that guy.'

He glared pointedly over at Neji, who eyed him similarly. "I really hope I get that bastard." He muttered quietly.

Sasuke smirked. "Well here's your chance to find out." As he spoke he pointed to the now active screen as it ran through the remaining names.

It ran for eight seconds, each one longer than the last. When at last the board froze, Naruto's eyes blinking in surprise.

Hayate looked at the board and then back to the gathered genin. "If Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba would please come down…"

Naruto mumbled something incoherent before swinging his legs over the railing and dropping to the floor, followed swiftly by Kiba. They eyed each other as they took their positions across from each other.

Hayate looked at them both for a few seconds before speaking. "Are both contestants ready?"

Both nodded and he echoed their motion. "Begin."

Naruto simply stuffed his hands in his pockets, waiting for Kiba to do something. However, the Inuzuka didn't move; instead he examined Naruto a bit more thoroughly.

"It's been a while since the Academy Naruto. I'm a lot stronger than I was back then."

Naruto smirked. "I could say the same about myself. But I'll tell you this now; I'm a lot stronger than you."

He snorted. "As if!"

Akamaru let out a sharp "Arf!" from inside his jacket, catching Naruto's attention.

"Oi, you should probably send him away. I don't wanna hurt the puppy."

Now it was Kiba's turn to smirk as he pulled the dog out of his jacket and placed him on the ground. "Don't worry, Akamaru and me fight together. Don't underestimate our jutsu!"

The blonde grinned and withdrew his hands form his pockets. "I'm ready when you are."

Kankuro couldn't help but take interest in the current fight. Though the fighting itself had yet to actually start, he was looking forward to it. Gaara had taken an early interest in practically everyone on this kids team, including the kid himself. Naturally, Gaara only took interest in strong people, but he was still human, if only barely so, and was fallible. To be more precise, he was interested in whether the blonde kid would live up to Gaara's expectations or not.

However, he'd recently sensed that his youngest sibling was becoming more and more unstable as the exams went on, and he had no doubt in his mind what would likely become of those who had caught Gaara's eye. 'It's really rare for Gaara to be this interested in multiple people. All of that kid's team is a target for Gaara.'

For some reason, his little brother had chosen them, out of all the examinees before the exam even got underway, though he hadn't said so directly. Kankuro had noticed him looking over at them when they'd first arrived for the first test, and it wasn't the "I'm mildly interested, and by that I mean not interested at all" kind of look. It was the "I want to kill them if they prove to be strong."

And he'd seen that look too many times to forget. With that same look, his attention was captured by the blonde in the arena now. Earlier, it seemed as though Gaara had been proud of himself for thinking of Sasuke as a worthy test-to-be of his "existence," and he was no doubt looking forward to seeing the same with this Naruto kid too.

Glancing over at his blood sibling, he could see the look of impatience on his face. 'He's getting more and more unstable as the exam continues. Man, I feel sorry for the poor fool who's got to fight him.'

Truth was, he wasn't too far from the mark. Gaara's hands tightened around his biceps, his patience wearing thin. He'd found a potential goldmine of opponents who could make his life worth meaning. If they proved strong, he'd be… well, not "happy," but as close to happy as he would ever be.

'Uzumaki Naruto… show me your power.'

"I'll end this quickly!" Kiba announced as he dropped to a knee, his hands together in the tiger seal. "Shikyaku no Jutsu!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he saw the small blue wisps of chakra exude from his body, even as he saw it travel to his limbs. Unlike how Hinata described the Byakugan, it seemed as though his Rinnegan allowed him to see where the chakra was going, not unlike how Sasuke described his Sharingan.

Kiba waited a second before dropping to all fours. His nails lengthened and sharpened, now looking less like weak cartilage and more like razor steel.

"Here goes!" And with that he surged forward.

Naruto didn't have time to blink before a sharp swipe of his claws tore into his right shoulder, shredding his shirt like nothing and opening shallow gashes along his skin; shallow because he'd managed to dodge at the last instant.

'Fast!'

Pulling out a trio of kunai, he flung them at the Inuzuka, who merely hopped away, leaving the blades to bury themselves harmlessly in the concrete wall behind him.

"Now Akamaru!"

Naruto turned as he heard the small clicking of nails on stone as Akamaru leapt at him, mouth open to bite him. Dropping to the floor, he ducked the flying dog and leapt away as soon as he'd cleared him. But as soon as he landed, he was immediately set upon by Kiba who was doing a god job of keeping him on the defensive. "How's that? You can't attack us like this!"

Naruto grunted as another slash opened on hos adjacent shoulder. 'Shit, I don't want to use Shinsō on my comrades. I'll have to put my other powers to the test!'

Leaping back he brought his hands together quickly. "Kage bunshin no Jutsu!"

With a poof of smoke five others of himself appeared and scattered, some running around and others going straight for Kiba.

The dog-boy immediately backed up. 'Kage bunshin? Since when could Naruto use that technique? We'll have to even it out with our combination jutsu.' He turned his head to where his pet was snapping at a clone's shins even as another tried to sneak up on the dog from behind.

"Akamaru! C'mere!"

The dog turn to its master and rushed over, standing loyally next to its owner.

"He's teaming up on us Akamaru; lets show him what we can do!"

"Arf, arf!"

With a swipe of an arm, Kiba reached into his back pocket and fingered two small spheres, which he promptly tossed to the floor. The resulting smoke spread around the arena, easily blinding everyone in the battle zone. Naruto shielded his eyes as the smoke enveloped him and his clones.

'Smoke bombs?' He squinted his eyes trying to see even a silhouette of his opponent, to no avail. After a few seconds, he was almost flayed as two grey blurs tore past him.

"Jūjin Bunshin!"

His eyes widened as two identical (and very tangible) Kibas dashed past him, slashing with their claws.

He barely had time to curse before his arms swung out to face them both. Without his even realizing it, the ground beneath him cracked as a massive force of energy slammed into both opponents and even his own clones, knocking them back and dispelling them respectively.

The smoke remained though, too thick and widespread to disperse so easily.

Both Kibas rolled to their feet, remaining in their four-legged stance. "The hell? Again!"

And in again they rushed, swiping with their razor sharp claws. Once again Naruto flung his arms out, this time intentionally, and watched as they were knocked away by the invisible wall of energy. 'Man! I love this power!'

But they came back undeterred, dashing around him quickly. "Come on Akamaru!"

Naruto watched as both of them shoved off the ground and began spinning at crazy speeds, their forms becoming only one continuous blur of motion as they twirled around like a pair of mobile drills. 'Crap! Gotta use it again!'

He put his arms out in front of him and fired.

At least, it was supposed to. "Wha-?"

"Gatsūga!"

They slammed into him, his clothes ripping audibly and his skin opening into numerous deep sized cuts, their spinning claws flinging droplets of his blood into the air where it continued to follow the laws of physics, splattering everywhere.

Naruto cried out in pain as his form went skipping across the ground, coming to a stop some several meters away. By now, the smoke had mostly cleared, and with its disappearance came the reactionary expressions of the audience.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled, wanting to jump over the railing and help him. She and Sasuke had both been watching with their doujutsu, since the smoke made it difficult for anyone without excellent eyesight to see. But all Sasuke could do was read the movements of the smoke and decipher what was happening within by using sound. For Hinata, it was much easier; her Byakugan allowed her to see everything.

What she saw left he dumbfounded; the same technique that Naruto had used against the Sound team and the Rain tea, the move that had completely obliterated them all, failed. For what reason she didn't know, only that every time Naruto that technique… what was it again? Shinra Tensei? …the chakra in his body would surge for a brief moment. But just now when Naruto had tried to use it again, the chakra surged, but never released.

'Why didn't it release?'

Then it hit her. 'Of course! The technique must require a certain amount of chakra to use, and if it doesn't charge first, it won't work!' She quickly thought back to just a few moments before when Naruto had used it and then failed. Carefully analyzing the short memory, she tried to sort out the time it would take for the technique to charge. 'He used it once… and then a second later he tried it again. So it takes more than one second to prepare…'

She looked back the fight, clearly able to see her boyfriend's confused expression. For whatever reason, she felt bad for not being able to communicate the problem. 'I'll… I'll just have to trust he can figure it out himself… Be careful, Naruto-kun…'

Naruto groaned painfully as he sat back up, blood now beginning to coat his skin and soak into his shirt. 'Shit…! Why didn't it go off? I felt the chakra there, so why…?' He slowly stood, steadying himself as Kiba and the transformed Akamaru prowled a bit away. 'I guess it's not a jutsu I can use in quick succession…' He looked down at his hands curiously. 'I guess fighting isn't the worst way to find out my new power's limits.'

Kiba however was curious about what his opponent had done. "Dunno what kind of jutsu you use, but it won't be enough against our Animal/Human Imitation Technique!"

Naruto lightly rubbed the blood from his left eye that was pouring down from a cut on his forehead. But he felt some off as soon as he closed his eyes. They felt different, as if something was missing…

Instantly he slipped his headband from around his neck and looked into it, using it as a makeshift mirror. Despite the dirt and grime, it was enough to find out what he wanted. He grimaced at what he saw.

"Shit…"

His Rinnegan stared back at him, proud purple sclera and multi-ringed irises focusing on his reflection.

The Inuzuka's last attack must have knocked his contacts clean out of his eyes. 'And it's not like I have spares just sitting around… Guess I ain't got a choice…'

With a lopsided, accepting grin, he sighed and retied the headband back around his neck. "…I didn't want to reveal this until the third exam, but I guess it doesn't matter much at this point," he said as he tightened the knot and returned his hands to his side.

Kiba blinked questioningly at the blonde, not understanding what he meant. As if in answer to his thoughts, and probably the thoughts of everyone else in the room, he raised his head and let out a long, deep breath. At the end of it, he opened his eyes for the world to see.

Though varied, each person in the room was experiencing the same, single unanimous emotion;

Surprise.

Kurenai narrowed her eyes, not knowing what it was exactly she was staring at. "What is that…?"

Her question was half-echoed by Gai as he stuttered out his own question. "Kakashi…! Is that… Please tell me I'm dreaming…!" She turned to him curiously; it seemed as if he knew what it was.

Kakashi almost smirked. "You're not. What you see is one-hundred percent genuine."

Kurenai turned to her colleagues inquisitively. "What is it? I see what he's talking about, but I'm not sure what I'm looking at."

Gai, with a bead of sweat running down his face and widened, disbelieving eyes, grit his teeth as he answered her. "The strongest doujutsu in the world; Rinnegan! Kakashi… how did…?"

Kakashi smirked and shrugged. "We're not quite sure ourselves. But regardless, now that he's revealed it, he probably won't hold back…"

Kurenai's brow furrowed. "Most powerful? How can that be?"

Kakashi chuckled. "It may sound cheesy, but it just randomly appeared without any sort of apparent stimulus at all."

Kurenai frowned. "So, you have the Hyuuga's Byakugan, the Uchiha's Sharingan, and now the Rinnegan? I'm beginning to think the Hokage didn't switch our students up just for potential's sake."

"No, he only recently awakened it. We had no idea he carried the gene for it beforehand. Actually, to be perfectly honest, we're not even sure how he got it in the first place."

"So… what can it do?" she asked curiously.

Kakashi gave her a rather unknowing look. "No idea."

The Hokage felt a smile tug at his lips. It had been difficult for him to believe that Naruto had the Rinnegan when he'd first been told, but now there was no mistaking it. 'There's no doubt about it, that's definitely the Rinnegan. But how could he have gotten it? Kakashi said he'd suffered pain in his eyes, and then one day they just manifested… But is that actually plausible?' Nevertheless, he was definitely looking forward to seeing what Naruto, the boy he could easily call his second grandson, would do with it. Above all though, he was proud.

The earliest part of Naruto's life had been hell, and no doubt he still harbored the pain and hatred of those memories deep within him. But for whatever reason, the Heavens had decided that his life should get better, and with that decision came Gin, the only person in the world who would offer to call Naruto his son. But then that was only the beginning; after him came Hinata (which he'd heard about from his gossiping secretary, much to his entertainment), who clearly loved him as more than just a friend, even as he eyed her momentarily, her eyes showing only the greatest of concerns for her boyfriend. And now the Rinnegan, a genetic tool of such legendary power…

Where once Naruto had nothing, now he had everything, and all jutsu were now within his grasp.

Neji narrowed his activated Byakugan eyes as he saw the boy's eyes for the first time, while listening to the conversation the jounin sensei were having. 'Rinnegan? I've never heard of such a thing before. And the way they say it's so powerful… how could a third-rate, generic loser ninja get his hands on something like that?'

He eyed the boy down below him. His expression had changed. Where his eyes were once blue, attentive and energetic, they were now calm, confident and authoritative.

'…Even his attitude had changed.'

Across the room, someone else was having just has hard time believe what was right in front of his eyes.

Orochimaru, thought disguised, couldn't stop his eyes from widening. 'It's impossible, but… there's no mistaking it! It is the Rinnegan!' His mind went back to when he was in Akatsuki, those enigmatic eyes of their reclusive leader… So untouchable, so powerful… And now before him was another with those same eyes. Identical eyes.

He couldn't stop his slithering tongue from licking his lips in excited anxiousness. With this revelation, Naruto was now also on his list. The last of the Sharingan with Sasuke, and the only other Rinnegan he'd even seen with Naruto. 'Plus he's the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki to boot… What luck!'

But he could do nothing in his current condition, so he simply continued to watch, though with renewed interest. Sasuke's complete floor-wiping of Yoroi had been enough to make him certain the Uchiha would grow to be worthy of becoming his next vessel, but he hadn't had any sort of clue to this.

This changed things. Big time.

'Fufufu, both descendant eyes of the Sage of Six Paths within my grasp…!' The concept was almost overwhelming.

Almost.

"Dude, what's up with your eyes?" Kiba asked, momentarily ceasing his physical hostilities.

"What you mean, 'what's up with them?'" Naruto asked, slightly offended.

"Well, look at them! They're all freaky lookin'."

Naruto glowered at him. "They're my eyes, asshole. I was wearing contacts before. These are what my eyes really look like."

Kiba examined him for a moment before shrugging. "…Do they do anything?"

Naruto deadpanned. "No, they're just to creep people out. Of course they do something!"

"Alright, alright, keep your shirt on. No harm in askin'. I mean, Kurenai-sensei's eyes are different and they don't do anything."

Kurenai felt an eye twitch at his comment as she mumbled to herself. "And guess who's running extra laps after this is over…"

Naruto thought about it for a moment before conceding. "Fair enough." He grinned as he raised his arms back up to face the two Kibas. "Though, I wouldn't stare for too long if I were you…"

Kiba flinched slightly, momentarily forgetting the fight was still going. "Heh, shut up! Let's go, Akamaru!" As one, they drilled toward Naruto at blinding speeds.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as they closed in. 'Wait for it… now!'

"Haa!" The wave of telekinetic energy slamming into the spinning quadrupeds and knocking them away.

They landed with a thud, but still on their feet. "Tch, again! Gatsūga!"

Naruto raised his hands again and fired. As expected, it didn't go off, but he kept the technique active, intending to wait out its duration. 'If it can't fire off immediately, then I'll keep using it until it's ready!'

Hinata held her hands to her chest as she watched. When he'd reached out and aimed at the incoming genin and dog, nothing happened. But she'd already started counting from the last time he'd effectively used it.

'One… two…'

She noticed, with relief, that Naruto was constantly pushing chakra to his arms in an attempt to force the technique to work, which meant that he noticed the time limit. Now he was just trying to figure out what it was.

'…three…'

But while she was glad he'd figured out by experience what she'd noticed by observation, it was of little comfort as the spinning, slicing drill-like forms of the Inuzuka pair were approaching him faster every millisecond. The natural reaction if the technique didn't work by the time they were a certain distance from him would be to stop trying and dodge. But she knew, probably better than most, how stubborn Naruto could be when learning something new. He wouldn't budge from that spot until he found his new power's limits, and that's what worried her.

She, above even Gin, cared for the Naruto's safety, and his wellbeing. Of course Gin cared, but as a guy, he didn't worry about him like she, a girl, did. It was a kind of care that only a woman could feel towards another. Like how men would spare only a passing question of condition to another guy and women would baby, or at least tend to their injury if hurt. She had a care for Naruto that she was proud to know surpassed that of any other human's on the planet.

'…four…'

And for that reason, nothing worried her more than when Naruto did something stupid. Like now. She'd rather he find out some other way to figure it out then by a "trial by fire" way like this. She'd rather he just do what was necessary to win, and then find out through training. It didn't have to happen like this.

But in the end, she would support him regardless; if he was losing, she'd cheer him on. If he was injured she would care for him. If he was struggling, she'd support him. If he was lonely, she'd be there for him. And when (not if) he needed love, she'd give all she had to him.

'…five…'

And the arena exploded.

Kiba knew that whatever telekinesis Naruto seemed to have was limited. For one, there was an apparent time limit between uses, since the blonde had been unable to knock them back so soon after using the technique. Thankfully, he didn't need to tell Akamaru what to do; they split up, aiming on getting him from both sides. Even if he managed to hit one of them, the other would take him out from behind. It never occurred to him that Naruto could use both hands to funnel the technique, which he noticed quickly as the blonde's hands tracked them both separately. Realizing that, both dog and master split up to polar opposite sides of the arena, known no one can look both left and right at the same time.

But even so, Kiba didn't want to risk allowing Naruto time to recharge his jutsu, and so rushed in, rapidly spinning in with his special cyclone of shredding death. Even though spinning, he could still see Naruto's eyes. They were hardened. Prepared. He wasn't backing down an inch. He'd take Kiba and Akamaru's technique head-on, regardless of the damage that would be done to him.

The Inuzuka had to admit, the guy had guts. But guts didn't make an Alpha.

He would give no quarter.

"Gatsūga!"

They slammed into him full force, the ground literally cracking and breaking beneath their power. Dust and debris flew into the air at impact, clouding the point of contact.

Kurenai sighed in relief, knowing it was over. 'As good as Naruto might be, he can't face Kiba and win.'

"That's it then…" she said with a smile, proud that her student had been able to beat one of Kakashi's students. She'd heard that this was the first year ever that Kakashi had passed his students and become a sensei. That in and of itself spoke to how good the three children were. And here, Kiba was better.

"No…"

Kurenai turned at the quiet voice of the Hyuuga girl next to her. Her veins were bulging around her eyes, indicating she was using her blood-given Byakugan to see beyond the airborne particles of dirt.

"…It's not." Her face was hard, her eyes narrowed and a very serious expression on. Though one hand was held to her chest, the other was gripping the metal railing tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force. Her chest, though visibly muted due to her thick jacket, expanded and contract deeply, but not excessively.

Kurenai couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. It was made abundantly obvious during the test that she and that Naruto boy were together, and from the way she'd reacted previously when Kiba and Naruto clashed, she would be the type to worry for her boyfriend. The fact that she wasn't now concerned the jounin, even though she assured herself there was no reason to be.

'Kiba and Akamaru collided from opposite trajectories, and with enough force to shatter several feet of solid concrete. Even if Naruto does have some sort of telekinetic capabilities, it won't be enough to protect him from that level of attack,' she thought.

"SHINRA TENSEI!"

Suddenly there was a blasting force from the killing floor, and the cloud of dust dispersed violently, spewing two other forms into the walls on either side of the arena, causing them to crack and collapse under the power of the repulsion. The tiles below buckled and broke, cracking and flying in every direction.

Everyone shielded their eyes as the synthetic shrapnel flew around them, thankfully not fast enough to cause any damage.

In the middle of the blast's center stood one lone, bright-haired figure.

Immediately Hinata sighed in relief, knowing Naruto had made it in time. Kurenai conversely looked on in near horror; no doubt the two objects that flew into either wall were her student and his pet. "T-this power…!"

Hayate had flinched comically at the explosion, and blinked stupidly several times before approaching. As he did, the dust had time to settle and things became clearer. On either side of the room was a vertical crater in the wall, one containing a young boy, the other a young dog. Neither was moving. Naruto on the other hand, looked worse for wear; he was a mess. His clothes were shredded beyond recognition, and his skin was slicked red with streams of blood from fresh cuts, courtesy of the two semi-anthropomorphics.

He stood there, unmoving, except for his heavy breathing and shaking outstretched arms. His shirt was no longer even a recognizable piece of clothing. Worse yet, sort of, his pants had been cut vertically along the hem, causing them become looser than they should have been. 'Kid's gonna need a belt,' he thought while suppressing a cough.

'As far as consciousness goes though…' He glanced briefly at the two massive depressions in the walls. '…it's not like I really need to check them.'

He lifted his hand into the air and brought it down to point at Naruto. "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

Immediately Hinata let out a sort of squeal of delight and she leaned forward excitedly, vaulting over the railing and jumping down to the floor. Sasuke smirked and folded his arms over his chest, but otherwise said nothing.

Kakashi eyed Kurenai's stunned expression proudly. "Don't be so surprised. Of all the genin in the village, Naruto is no doubt one of the strongest. Actually that might not be true…" he corrected, drawing Kurenai's gaze away from where the medical teams were now entering the arena.

"…It's possible he's the most powerful genin here."

Though he said it, it certainly didn't look like he was being truthful. What with how battered Naruto looked after fighting Kiba, who was easily of average capability, it looked like Naruto had just gotten by by the skin of his teeth. 'Though if he hadn't been playing with his Rinnegan powers, he would have wiped the floor with Kiba with his normal abilities.'

It was a little-bragged about fact, but Naruto, with Shunpō, was undoubtedly the fastest genin in the village, save Hinata and Sasuke who already knew or was beginning to learn the same skill. With that speed and his sword capabilities, Naruto could probably decapitate any of his peers easily. But Kakashi knew he wouldn't use his weapon unless he thought it was necessary.

Kurenai was left with only a half-open mouth, while Shino, the now only remaining conscious genin on his team, didn't make any outward reaction to Kakashi's claim.

Asuma chuckled lightly. "Looks like there are some tough contestants this year." His comment drew a groan from the lethargic boy to his left.

"And guess who gets stuck with fighting them. Me, that's who. What a pain…"

Asuma merely patted his student on the back with a mix of sympathy and encouragement.

Hayate watched over the two wounded boys as the medical team arrived, stretcher in hands. Simultaneously, the Hyuuga girl leapt down and ran to Naruto's side, just in time it seemed too; as soon as she was in spitting distance, he turned to her, lost his balance and fell, luckily into her surprised arms as she supported him for a second, crying out worriedly before setting him down gently.

She looked into his eyes for some sort of sign as to his condition. Obviously he was injured, but she could never tell what was actually life-threatening to him and what wasn't. "What's wrong? Naruto!"

He grunted achingly, his eyes clenched as well as his teeth. After a few seconds, he opened one eye and forced a grin. "I'm… fine. Something… like this... is nothing…"

To her distress, he tried to stand, but failed miserably, collapsing back into her arms. She quickly looked him over. He had numerous cuts across his body, some deep, others superficial. From the deep ones spouted flows of crimson that continued to pour, unlike the shallow ones that were already clotting up. Normally blood loss at this stage wouldn't be enough to incapacitate Naruto, but it was always possible some of his muscles were damaged. However, she realized that this was her chance to be useful to him.

Though she knew he would argue to the contrary, she didn't feel all that helpful in the second exam, having barely been able to keep them safe before they both woke up. Not to mention how pointless her assistance had been against the man who put them in that condition. But now, in this condition, she would be able to repay Naruto, at least a little bit of his deeds done for her.

The medical team looked over and two approached them. With a few glances, they asserted the same likely conclusions that Hinata had come to only moments before. "Excuse us, we'll take you to the infirmary."

Hinata shook her head and stood, lifting Naruto with her and placing his left arm over her shoulders. "That's ok, I've got him."

They looked at her skeptically, clearly tentative about her confidence. "Are you sure? Those wounds need to be treated quickly…"

"She's said she's got me," Naruto cut in between haggard breaths. "And I trust her… Thanks for the thought though… It's… appreciated…"

"…Alright…" said the first medic hesitantly, not entirely able to say he trusted the girl nearly as much as the boy did. "But if anything happens we'll take him immediately anyway."

She nodded, understanding, and half-carried Naruto over to the stairs, up them, and over to their team, laying him down on the concrete balcony against the wall.

Sasuke was smirking, having found the whole thing rather comical. Oh, not the fight, but rather the way Naruto had to hold his pants up even as they sagged lower and lower with each step. Had the circumstances been different, he had no doubt Hinata would have blushed, but equally undoubtedly have taken a sort of humorous pleasure in it, just as he did (though he admitted she probably would have been less open about it than he was).

As soon as the blonde was down, she reached over and grabbed his jacket, which she helped him shrug off. When she'd gotten his torso bare, she turned slightly and reached into her pocket. Rummaging around for a few seconds, she pulled out a small brown cylindrical container. Unscrewing the top, she dipped two fingers in it and carefully began applying it to each and every cut she could see.

Naruto watched curiously as she smeared the cool cream across his skin, wincing every now and then as her fingers glided over his wounds. But to his amazement, he watched as the small cuts almost literally sealed shut before his very eyes.

"Whoa… what is this?" He asked in awe.

Hinata blushed slightly as she continued to apply more of it to his sides, moving away from his chest. "I-it's medicine. I m-made it myself… "

He looked at her in incredulity. "You made this medicine? Since when could you do that?"

She stuttered over her words, though only slightly. "I-I've always been good at working with t-things like herbs and stuff… Plus, I've read a lot of b-books about them and practiced from them."

Naruto blinked several times in succession, but then grinned giddily. "Wow… I didn't know we had a doctor on our team!"

She turned away slightly, bashful at his comment. "Th-that's not-…"

"If that's the case, we don't need to worry about being hurt on our missions anymore," Sasuke chimed in. "You can just patch us up if we're injured."

"B-but I'm n-not-… I'm only-"

"The best girlfriend in the world, ya know?" Naruto exclaimed, cutting her off with a giant grin on his face.

Whatever she was trying to say was forgotten as she blushed from his praise. She could try to argue her not being well versed in medical doctrine, but something like that… It wasn't like she could deny it; it was his opinion after all. Unable to argue the point she nervously brushed one of her bangs to the side. "…I-if you say so…"

Naruto chuckled as she went back to work on his cuts. "Oh, I do. I do." Whether it was from a genuine desire to compliment her with the truth, or his mischievous nature coming back out to the forefront of his personality, he admittedly loved making her blush. There was just something about the way she nervously shifted… the way she would timidly look away… the way she smiled acceptingly at his comments…. It made for a great source of euphoria for him.

Hinata retracted her hands from his body, breaking him from his thoughts. "That should do it for now…" she said as her eyes wandered his freshly treated injuries carefully. "The cream should keep them from getting infected, and should help your platelets seal the wounds, but don't try to move too much until we leave, ok?" Her tone had gone back to her business-as-usual mode and her eyes told him it was less of a question and more of a statement.

He nodded lightly. "Sure thing, Hina-chan!"

Rangiku watched with interest as the three genin, and the two courtesans in particular, interacted with each other. In a way, it was sort of a refreshing return to normalcy for her. Back in Soul Society, there were moments like this all the time between the more friendly and open Shinigami of the Gotei Thirteen, and even in Seireitei and Rukongai. After having studied up on the history of this new world she found herself in, she'd expected it to be a dark and depressing land of suffering and conflict. She was glad to see the reality was so much different than what she'd expected. Well, they were only young boys and girls fighting in a potential lethal ranking exam, which she still wasn't comfortable with, but she'd learn to deal.

Gin turned from the three with a smile, only to realize with a start that the name generator had begun and stopped while they'd been talking. "Uh oh, time's up."

The three genin looked up at him at once, and then to where his gaze was resting. Hinata felt her heart skip a beat.

HYUUGA NEJI vs. HYUUGA HINATA.

"Well, this will be interesting," came Sasuke's amused voice as he smirked approvingly at the matchup.

Naruto likewise smiled. "Heh, guess Hina-chan gets the pleasure of beating his ass. Kind of a buzz-kill, but oh well."

Hinata though, for her part, couldn't help but feel a tad nervous about this. 'If it were anyone else…' she thought hesitantly. But she didn't have time to dwell on it as the proctor called for the two contestants to come down and she felt a small nudge from Kakashi behind her.

"Better get going," he said with a positive inflection in his tone. She nodded and stood, stepping over to the railing and leaning against it. Swinging her legs over it, she allowed herself to fall down to the concrete floor below.

She landed quietly, though she was not deaf to the sound of her cousin landing on the floor as well. She could also feel his eyes on her, but she did her best to ignore it. She stepped up to the center of the arena.

Hayate looked between the two of them and announced the start.

To the surprise of the majority of onlookers, they didn't immediately rush at each other, though Hinata did get into a sort of ready-stance. Neji for his part only cocked his head at her curiously. They soon learned why.

"You're seriously going to fight me?" he asked as if he genuinely hadn't expected it.

Hinata did her best to remain undeterred. "Of course. Even if we're related, if we have to fight each other to continue on, then so be it."

"That's not what I mean," Neji said, his gaze taking on a more distasteful look and catching her of guard. He didn't wait for a response before he continued. "For as long as you've lived, you've been weak. Even you have to admit that much. From ages three to six, you we noticeably weaker than even the most average of Hyuuga students. The clan passed it off as roughness that would pass with time. However, as age nine rolled by, they realized it wasn't just roughness, but weakness."

Hinata did her best to suppress a flinch, but she wasn't sure how well she managed to do so.

"Frail determination, low motivation, poor skills, it was obvious early on you would be a less than stellar Hyuuga. No matter how they looked at it, they couldn't see any way for you to improve. And such is the limit of yourself." He crossed his arms in front of him. "That's why I'm asking; here, now… you, who were destined to be weak and useless, are going to fight me?"

Hinata could feel the biting edge in his tone; the underlying animosity he was so coolly holding in check… for the moment.

"Yes. That's the case."

For a second, she could almost see a smirk on his lips. But whatever she thought she'd seen disappeared immediately after. He was silent for several seconds before speaking again. "I will say this only once. Give up. You're not capable of beating me."

Hinata's eyes narrowed at his words; for the first time in a long time, she felt offended by them. She'd heard that kind of rhetoric many times before by her family. However, she'd always agreed with them, knowing that she was weak. But now, instead of the sorrowful inability to deny them, she felt a tightness in her gut, and a burning sensation consume her stomach. To say that she was still weak would be to say that the training she'd so graciously received from both Naruto and his father was for nothing.

She would not do that. They were strong, and so was she.

Her body stiffened.

In the balconies, Naruto felt a smug smile creep across his face as he saw her expression. "I wish it could have been me…" he said as if to himself.

Kakashi caught it and cocked his head at the genin. "Hm? What's that?"

Naruto let the smirk split his mouth in a smile. "… to kick that kid's ass."

"Forgive me, Neji-nii-san," Hinata spoke up. "…but I can't back down after coming so far."

The Hyuuga prodigy looked at her carefully for several seconds before huffing and uncrossing his arms. "Fine then. Don't regret what happens next."

Next between them, Kankuro and Temari both felt Gaara fidget ever so slightly. "Enough talking. Get on with it." Though his words were not spoken loud enough for those below to hear, they were unmistakably words of impatience, and Gaara and impatience did not mix.

Thankfully though, his vibes must have been felt by both Hyuuga below, as they both immediately got into their fighting stances; right hands pulled back to their sides, left palms extended toward their opponent. Neither moved for several seconds, both carefully observing each other. But as if an inaudible whistle had been blown, Neji charged, throwing a flurry of strikes at Hinata, who thankfully managed to defend against them. Likewise, she threw her palms forward to try and break Neji's guard, only for him to retreat back a step to dodge

Kankuro reached up to scratch the side of his head. "The hell. They're not even really fighting each other."

"There's got to some sort of secret to their style…" Temari responded, narrowing her eyes as she tried to discern it.

On the other side of the room, Lee's fists were clenched. Watching two practitioners of a style that surpassed even his own duke it out in front of him… It made him slightly jealous. He'd always considered Neji his rival, and being on the same team, it was easy for him to learn about the Hyuuga boy. One of the first things he learned was that Neji was unbeatable in close quarters combat.

Hinata slid back a step and knocked her cousin's strike up and away, retaliating with an identical strike. She'd never had to fight Neji before, and she was beginning to realize why. Neji was strong. Of all the Hyuuga, he was probably the strongest of her generation. His unarmed taijutsu was nearly as good as Sasuke's, and she knew for a fact that the Uchiha's skill was beyond even Naruto's. Naruto was flatly equal with Sasuke when he used his sword, and didn't use his Shinigami powers. But on fair ground, Sasuke won against the blonde. And Neji was just as good as his Uchiha counterpart.

And she'd never won a fight against Sasuke. By any sane person's logic, that meant she would stand no chance of beating her cousin. But if there was one thing she'd learned from being on team seven, it was that logic meant nothing to them. Regardless of the odds, or of her past with the Hyuuga clan, she would put that away and give her all to winning.

Her strike was slapped away, and then her next. Spinning around her arm, Neji advanced on her, driving her back. She grit her teeth as she knocked his attack away, feeling the vague sensation of chakra grazing by her skin.

Neji's face was emotionless. A perfect stone-expression of apathy. But his eyes hid a dangerous flame just waiting to escape. Every time he struck, she could see the flame burn brighter. 'He wants to hurt me… He wants to make me suffer…' she realized. It wasn't anything she wasn't used to. It was a common thing in her family; to be hurt. At least, it was for her. Punishment for failure was harsh, and she'd failed enough to learn that lesson very intimately. However, if there was one thing she could claim to have gained from it, it would be an enhanced resistance the stomach-turning agony of Jyuuken.

It was probably why she couldn't feel his strikes against her when she blocked, having no way to properly deflect them. She felt her breath beginning to catch up to her, and her lungs found it increasingly difficult to keep up with her demand for air. But likewise, Neji wasn't fairing too well better. But his eyes were narrowed and focused; he wasn't backing down no matter what.

And neither would she. 'Sasuke won…' She thought back to how Sasuke had decimated his opponent with only two strikes. 'Naruto won…' The image of Naruto's devastating attack that left Kiba and his canine companion completely out cold passed behind her eyes.

'I can't be the only one who loses…!' She felt a growl emanate unconsciously from her throat. With a surge of excitement, she watched as Neji's slipped, even though ever so slightly, and immediately made for it. Suddenly Neji was hit square in the chest. Then a second time, and then a third. Neji's defense completely collapsed all of a sudden! She pressed her advantage, laying into him with everything she had. "Haaaaahhhh!" she cried out as she remained relentless in her assault.

'I'm doing it!' she thought with glee. 'I can win!'

Neji stumbled back, with a grunt, and her sharp eyes spotted his supporting foot slide just a little too far, and his arms shifted ever so slightly to compensate. 'This is it!' She drew back her right arm and thrust it forward, intent on ending the battle with one final blow.

But as soon as her arm was fully extended, her opponent immediately grabbed it. The next thing she knew, the world had inverted and she was on the ground, a sharp pain running through her back and abdomen. She couldn't stop a yelp from escaping her lips as she felt her gripped arm surge with agonizing pain. When she opened her eyes again, having shut them as a natural reaction to her pain, she could only see the cold, calculating eyes of her cousin, his Byakugan staring down at her uncaringly. It was then she realized her mistake.

He'd intentionally left himself open for her to attack, only to turn around and counter. To her surprise, she felt his grip on her pained arm release, and he stepped back, as if waiting to see if she would get up.

Though throbbing, she brought her injured arm close to her body as she lifted her self from the ground, her Byakugan likewise reactivating. 'If he's going to play like that…' But as she stood, her eyes now registering both her, and his own damage, she realized something was not quite right. Not right at all.

"Wha…?" None of his innards were damaged. The worst his skin showed were mere impact bruises. There was nothing inside him that gave hint that she'd even tried to use Jyuuken on him. However, she showed numerous injuries in her arms, especially the one he'd just let go of. Looking down at herself, she hesitantly lifted the sleeve from her wrist. What she saw made her blood run cold. "I-Impossible…"

"It seems you've finally noticed."

"M-my tenketsu… How…?"

"Simple. I've been able to see each and every chakra point from the very beginning." He glowered down his nose at her. "Do you understand now? From the beginning, you were at a disadvantage. Fighting an opponent you know is stronger than you is one thing, but fighting an opponent you don't know is stronger than you, and still believing you can win, is the very definition of stupidity."

His eyes, with his Byakugan active, looked cruel and vengeful. "Assuming you know your enemy is the greatest mistake a ninja can make in their career."

Hearing his disdainful words, she felt a lump form in her throat, though she did her best to will it away.

"I said it before didn't I? You. Are. Weak. THe more you fight, the more you only prove my point better. Not only are you weak in ability, but also mentally. From the beginning your strikes have been ineffective and your head on strategy shamefully transparent." He raised his hand to point at her. "Now with your right arm unable to use chakra, what can you hope to do?"

His eyes narrowed. "Forfeit."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as well, not at all liking the tone with which he spoke to her. A loud metallic clang from beside him showed that Naruto felt similar; his grip had shattered the railing.

'Come on Hinata… come on…!'

Hinata fought back tears; from anyone else, the insults would have been ignorable. But from him… they'd hit straight home. He probably would have said something about keeping her emotions in check, if he though he needed to. But he knew she knew that already, and that was even worse; he knew he was right.

She didn't want to forfeit; most assuredly not, but with just one effective arm, how could she hope to fight him? He would force hand-to-hand combat, and she'd barely been able to keep up with him before. What more could she do with both her defense and offence halved?

'…What would Naruto do?' she thought, imagining what it would be like if he were in her psotion. What she saw was an image of Naruto floating in her mind, middle finger raised and a confident grin on his face.

Even in her situation, she couldn't help but feel a chuckle escape her lips. Of course that would be what he would do; fuck the world and prove them wrong, smile in the face of their victory, and make them regret winning.

She felt a small grin creep across her face. 'Fuck the world, huh…?'

Neji couldn't miss it. "What's so funny?"

Hinata shook with an involuntary laugh before composing herself and looking him in the eye. "Heh… heheh… You… you might be right… But even if I'm going to lose, I'm not going to make it easy for you to beat me!"

She raised her hands up, her palms facing her Hyuuga relative.

Neji's eyes narrowed. "What exactly do you intend to do? Your chakra is sealed."

Hinata took a deep, calming breath as she blinked away the remnants of unshed tears in her eyes. "Hado no Sanjūichi…"

Neji's eyebrow twitched. "...Nani?"

Her eyes opened, and a small sphere of crimson energy formed between her palms. "Shakkahō!"

With a slight shock of energy, the ball shot from her hands, blasting toward Neji's surprised face. The other side of the arena exploded in a shower of debris. Neji was now bent over backwards, having done so to avoid the attack. He quickly back-flipped and stood ready again.

Hinata was not dismayed. "HAAA!" Another sphere formed and fired.

Dodged.

And another.

She was now rapidly forming the balls of spiritual energy as fast as possible, and with each narrow miss, her attacks kept getting closer. If it was any consolation, Neji's shocked and uncomprehending face was enough to satisfy her, even if she were to lose. Small burns and singes were beginning to appear on Neji's clothes and skin as he narrowly missed being hit by the dangerous singularities of light. But at last, his efforts failed him and one of the spheres nailed him in the chest, followed closely by two more. Their explosions resounded loudly, and the back of the area was decimated from each dodged attack having hitting it instead.

The sand team, along with Asuma's team looked very uncertain about the structural integrity of the balcony they shared.

The cloud of smoke that now obscured Neji's immobile form boiled erratically, attempting to follow common physics and disperse; Hinata lowered her hands, letting out a breath of relief. Neji was out for count, and even if he somehow managed to stand up after that, he likely wouldn't be able to fight back, even with her having on one Jyuuken capable limb.

She kept her eyes on the dispersing smoke, waiting to see Neji's unconscious or struggling form. For that reason, she was surprised when she heard her name shouted from behind her. It was Naruto's voice, and it sounded frantic. She turned, only to meet the business end of a chakra-infused palm straight to her face. She had no words that could properly describe the biting pain she felt racket around in her skull. One second she'd blinked, the next she was on the ground, none of her senses working as they should.

Slowly, she managed to lift her head, though the effort it took to do so was incredible. What she saw was an injured, but very much able Neji, arm extended and a cold, ruthless face adorned. She felt incredulity and frustration build up inside her. "…H-how…?"

His white eyes stared her down. "Substitution. Such a basic technique, and you fell for it." He lowered his arm. "I don't what kind of technique that was, but it makes no difference in the outcome of this battle. I've knocked out your primary nervous system cortex. Naturally without it, the neurons from your brain won't reach their destination. If I chose to, I could end this fight without even needing to blink, and you'd be helpless to stop me."

He stepped forward, closing the distance between them, his arms crossing over his singed jacket. "I'm doing you a favor by allowing you to surrender. Either way the match is over. It's just a matter of whether I'll end it, or you."

Hinata gritted her teeth and struggled to rise, but her arms gave out from underneath her and she fell back onto her back, but she didn't stop trying. "T-this won't… I won't…!"

Neji's eyes widened as she shakily got back to her feet, rigidly trying to maintain her balance. "You still intend to fight? This is the epitome of futility. If I even breathe on you, you'll fall over. I can tell your body isn't responding, and even if it was, you have only one arm left to fight me; you could barely compete with both of them. And mark my words, I won't fall for that cheap jutsu again."

Hinata felt herself swim slightly as she shook her head to clear it. As much as she wanted to continue on and win, she couldn't shake the sinking feeling that he was right. It was a losing battle no matter how anyone looked at it. She knew that it would end in a loss whether she decided to try and fight more or to give up. But giving up… it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

From her perspective, Neji's back was toward the side of the room her team was on, so she shifted her gaze from him up towards them. Sasuke was looking down disdainfully at them both, though she supposed his look was primarily directed at her cousin. Kakashi and Gin looked, actually rather passive. Gin's grin seemed to have faltered, but he wasn't scowling. And Kakashi… it was never easy to read him. But as she looked to Naruto, she could clearly see the boiling rage inside him waiting just below the surface to break free and unleash its hellish fury at her cousin. But it was the face he was making that made her spine shiver.

She didn't have words to describe it… it was like he was trying to inject his desire to win into her by sheer will alone, and she had to admit, when she looked into his ringed eyes, she felt as if she were suddenly encompassed by overflowing power. And in that brief instance, she could understand what he was thinking.

She allowed herself a smile.

'He doesn't want me to give up, but he also knows that that will only get me hurt. He wants me to win, but also to save myself the pain,' she realized. He would never want her to get hurt, naturally. But as she looked down at her opponent, she knew that giving up was out of the question. 'Sorry Naruto-kun, but I refuse to disappoint you!'

She hadn't even realized she said it, but a small, seemingly insignificant word escaped her lips.

Neji blinked at it. "What?"

"Order…" she said again, allowing her thoughts and feelings consume her. She looked up, her eyes burning and voice filled with a fiery passion. "Naruto is stronger than either of us. He's the one who'll bring order to the world; I refuse to believe anything else! If he's really the god who will bring order to the world, then I have to be strong enough to be his angel!" She planted her feet firmly on the floor, her body welling with strength she didn't know she had. "I refuse to back down from anyone! Not when he's watching!"

Neji looked as if he were about to puke. "Is that so? I see. I understand now… You know you're weak, so you place your confidence in someone else; it's all you can do." He stared down his nose at her, a shadow crossing over his eyes.

"I'll say this once Hinata-sama…" He spat her name out. "…Fate cannot be fought."

To his surprise, Hinata nodded. "I know that, very well. But I don't need to fight fate when I know someone who makes his own!" She spared a glance up at her blonde love. 'Sorry Naruto-kun, but, if you'll allow it…' she ran forward to attack. '…I'm going to borrow some of your future!'

Neji growled as he retaliated, easily overwhelming her with blocks and parries. But for as much as he was effectively defending against her, he couldn't gain any momentum to attack. From the weight of her strikes, he knew that even if she hit him, he wouldn't be hurt in the slightest.

But Hinata knew that.

His eyes widened when another of those pink sphere appeared in her cocked palm. His eyes widened as she slammed if forward.

Another explosion erupted, but the sounds of battle didn't cease. Neji leapt out of the smoke, Hinata hot on his tail. He'd apparently mitigated most of the damage, aside for some minor burn marks on his arms. Eyes cold and calculating, he reached behind him and pulled out a kunai and made to throw it, but due to Hinata's aggressiveness, his throw was cut off, and it went flying high into the air. Grunting in frustration, he grabbed one of her outstretched arms and spun her around, throwing her back.

With her balance briefly off, she fought to find her feet when she spied the other Hyuuga throwing another kunai. However, with her Byakugan, she easily saw the explosive tag wrapped around the handle. 'I'll just dodge it!'

He loosed it and she watched it fly toward her, but even as she was leaning aside to dodge, she noticed all too late the other kunai he threw. It was falling back down to the floor, but her sharp eyes noticed that it would never actually hit it. It likely was never meant to.

It landed, precisely, on the incoming explosive knife. The collision set off the parchment, not three feet from her.

She felt a nauseous wave of heat, a burning feeling in her hands and arms, and then nothing.

The explosion ripped through the arena. Even Hayate had to shield his face. 'That… that was no ordinary paper bomb… that was a high-grade explosive…!'

Two forms flew from the smoke, one landing on its feet, the other tumbling across the floor lifelessly. Neji took a deep breath as he felt the backlashing heat from his own attack sting his skin. Ignoring it, he looked over to where his cousin had come to a halt. He stared at her unmoving body for a few seconds before huffing and looking away dismissively. "I guess I win then, Hinata-sama."

He began walking away before the proctor even had time to come across the floor to check. But his movements stopped the instant he heard coughing.

He slowly turned around, a burning hatred suddenly welling up inside of his gut. "You…!"

Hinata flailed helplessly as she tried to stand again, blood dripping from a series of scrapes and cuts on her forehead and arms, both of which were burnt badly. But as she raised her head to bring her eyes to bear on him, he felt as if he'd suddenly been cheated. "Still…? Do you still intend to continue? This battle's over! You've lost!"

Hayate's eyes were wide as he watched the battered girl attempt to stand, and thought the same thought every jonin had on their mind. 'This girl… What incredible will!'

"Oi, oi… isn't this a bit much?" Asuma said as he tucked his cigarette into the corner of his mouth.

Hinata tried to stand, but her legs failed her, and she looked down to see them shrouded in smoke, and she realized half of her pants had been blown off when she'd reflexively tried to defend herself from the explosion. Everything from her mid-thighs down had been shredded. All she could see was charred, torn flesh. No wonder she couldn't stand. But she couldn't feel any pain, and was both thankful and fearful for it, and managed to at least pull her legs underneath her. But Neji's words did not affect her.

"No… I haven't…" she said between labored breaths. She wanted to say more, but she knew that Neji would never understand it if she did. She hadn't lost. She might not have won, but she hadn't lost. She was much more than just herself: she was Sasuke, she was Naruto. She had their will, and they had hers. They were more than just a team; they were a single entity. That was something that was likely beyond the scope of her cousin's understanding. But even for as much as he'd likely tried to kill her just then, she harbored no ill will toward him. He was strong, and she'd known the battle would be hard fought.

But Neji didn't seem to reciprocate her good nature. All that he could think of were her words rattling around in his brain. How couldn't she have lost? It was his victory! She couldn't even stand, and she says she hasn't lost? 'That… damn… main family…!' He bared his teeth at her and roared. "You little… I'll make you wish you were never born!"

Hayate's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. 'That guy…! He's going to kill her!'

He wasn't alone; every jounin saw it. But none of them even made it half way to intercept him. They'd been beat to it.

Neji eyes widened as Hinata, who he was aiming at, was replaced by the visage of another. And just as soon after, he felt his body come to an abrupt halt.

Naruto's half naked form now stood, firm and fearlessly between his love and her attacker. In an instant, an immense pressure saturated the entirety of the massive room, his rage now having reached critical mass.

Neji couldn't compose himself to suppress his surprise as Naruto's eyes now bore into him; those eyes, glowing with energy and rippling with rage, narrowed dangerously at him. In an instant, he felt an immense feeling of smallness come over him, and he felt an immediate desire to shrink back and cower; to go home and lock his doors… to run. The incredible authority of the boy in front of him made his natural instincts go insane with submission. But it was only for a moment, for in the next, he growled as he tried to push against the invisible bindings holding him still. But just as soon as he thought he might break through, the world blurred around him for only a second before a skull-cracking pain ran through his body.

To everyone else, it looked as if Neji might actually attack Naruto instead, but then he was repelled with such force that he was sent crashing into the wall, the concrete shattering beneath the force. The resounding power of the repulsion blasted across the arena, resonating from the epicenter of the chamber. The unprepared jounin and their genin students all recoiled in shock.

But that wasn't it. More and more pressure continued to pour out of the blonde, and Neji continued to sink further into the stone wall. When at last it felt like the whole building might explode from the pressure, it vanished.

The entire time, Naruto hadn't moved.

There was silence for some time after the heaviness disappeared, and many of the genin, and even some jounin were all wondering similar thoughts. Across the arena, a particular Sand ninja felt his body shake...

At last, Naruto spoke.

"I understand, Hinata…"

However, she was unconscious. She'd been so weakened that the very pressure of Naruto near her, had been enough to knock her out. But he didn't stop. "You believe that i'm the god of the world, so strongly that you'd continue fighting, that you'd ignore the fight of your skin and nerves burning…" He spoke mostly to himself, but as he continued, it was clear he was addressing every single spectator.

"Fine then. I will be the god of the world you desire. A perfect, peaceful world!" He looked all around him. "With these eyes, I'll make a world you can live in without fear or sadness!" A groaning from behind him alerted him to Neji's being conscious again.

"And to you, Hyuuga, I have one warning…" He paused for emphasis. "…Hinata is far too kind to fight her family, as reviled by them as she is. However, if you ever raise a hand against her again, regardless of how much she might beg me not to, I will end you."

Neji grimaced as he looked up at the boy before him, feeling a sudden bravado come over him. He half chuckled, half coughed at him. "If you think you're strong because you caught an injured opponent off guard, you're sadly mistaken. My eyes see everything, Uzumaki Naruto…" he grunted as he picked himself up, swaying slightly and limping a bit as he stepped forward out of the ruble behind him.

"…Those eyes are nothing special. Heaven wouldn't give such a legendary gift to a foolish nobody. No, my Byakugan can see through your façade!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Be careful, Hyuuga Neji. I'm not as forgiving as she is."

Silenced reigned for several seconds as both pairs of duojutsu stared at each other, until at last the proctor's voice broke it.

"Winner, Hyuuga Neji."

Neji huffed and turned away dismissively. He won, and that was all that mattered. But if felt exceedingly hollow.

Naruto turned and bent down, picking up the girl on the ground carefully, noting her burns. As soon as she was safely in his grasp, the medical team came out to fetch her. Naruto, for fear of hurting her, didn't want to transfer her to the stretcher. "I'll carry her to the medical area, just show me the way."

The medics looked at him concernedly but realized he wasn't taking no for an answer. Accepting the fact, they nodded and guided him to the infirmary keeping their eyes on the girl in his arms and making diagnostics based on what they saw and what Naruto accounted for. The trip didn't take long and they led him to a decently sized room full of medical equipment and beds.

"Here, set her down here," one medic directed, and Naruto carefully did so. Several more came over and immediately began speaking in that babbling medical jargon that Naruto would never understand. He simply stepped back and allowed them to do their jobs. He ignored their tearing her already pitiful clothes off and tried to focus on any keywords they said. He wasn't a doctor, but he knew what words sounded bad.

So intent was he on watching and listening that he jumped mile high when a hand rested on his shoulder. "She'll be alright."

Naruto whirled and saw, to his joy, the silver haired boy who'd taken the sane rode. "Kabuto! What are you doing here?"

The young man pointed to his left ear that was now completely covered with bandages. "I had to get checked out. They said my hearing will return in time and I'll make a full recovery, which is good. I guess my teammates weren't chunin quality though; saw them wheeled in here earlier."

Naruto laughed lightly. "Well, one of 'em did end up against Sasuke. Nothing to be surprised about."

Kabuto smiled light heartedly. "Well, Sasuke-san is pretty talented I guess." He turned his head to look over Naruto's shoulder at the mass of doctors working. "I suppose Hinata-san wasn't so lucky…" he said sympathetically.

Naruto's smile dimmed and he nodded. "Got hurt pretty bad…"

Kabuto, noticing his friend's face, sighed and slapped him on the back. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure she'll be fine." Even as he said it, the medical team suddenly went into a frenzy and started yelling out orders and observations. The term "cardiac arrest" was said twice. Even Naruto knew what that was.

Immediately he rushed forward to see what was going on, already demanding such verbally. He was surprised when he felt a pair of strong hands restrain him. Turning he saw Kabuto. "Hey, let me go!"

"Don't. You'll just get in their way. Let them do their job."

Naruto offered no more resistance, but Kabuto kept his hold on him anyway. They both watched on helplessly as the team worked to resuscitate her. Thankfully, it didn't take long.

When at last the medics seemed to calm down, Naruto realized they'd managed to take care of it. Kabuto released him as the senior doctor advised taking her to the hospital for proper care, seeing as the current medical facility was inadequate. They quickly hooked her up to some portable monitoring equipment and got her on the stretcher. After strapping her down for the journey, they rushed out. Those who stayed behind eyed the blonde for a second before approaching.

"Are you her teammate?" one asked.

He nodded, "Yeah I am."

The man cleared his throat, nodding. "She had a brief bout with a heart attack, and her body's pretty burnt. Likely she'll have some scarring, but from what we've seen so far she should survive. When the preliminary matches are over she'll be at the hospital. Though, you probably won't be able to visit her right away."

Naruto nodded reluctantly.

"Do you have any injuries we can help with?"

He shook his head absently and the man took the cue and let him be. Kabuto sighed and patted the blonde's shoulder sympathetically. "You'd better get back up there. You don't want to miss the end of the preliminaries."

Naruto nodded numbly, and Kabuto sighed again, more exasperatedly this time. "Tell you what; I'll head over to the hospital and make sure she's ok. That sound good?"

Naruto blinked surprised at him. "Really?"

The other genin shrugged. "My dad's the chief medical doctor; I'll pull some strings, get her some good care."

Naruto blinked and looked away thankfully. "You'd do that? I… thanks... I really appreciate it."

Kabuto smiled kindly and gave him a slight push. "My pleasure. Now get going or you'll miss the end. I'll take care of things over here."

Naruto smiled and nodded before rushing off back to the main arena. Before rounding the corner though, he looked back and stared at his senior seriously. "Promise you'll take care of her?"

The silver haired teen nodded confidently. "Absolutely."

Naruto gave a relieved look and nodded back to him before disappearing. Kabuto shook his head at the boy as he vanished. "Geez… what am I going to do with you guys…?" he asked rhetorically to no one in particular.

'Well, I guess since I did promise, I'd better keep it. Besides, if there's one thing I can't stand, it's shoddy work.' He grimaced that the painfully obvious inexperience probably half of the medical staff there displayed. 'Probably some sort of "live-fire" testing for the newbies. Hardly what I'd expect from professionals.'

He smiled darkly as he already felt his left ear heal itself. 'Guess I gotta go show them what a pro is really like.'

He stepped out, following the path he knew the medical team had taken to transport the Hyuuga girl to the hospital, the white wraps falling to the floor from his head. Slow healing had always been a pet peeve of his…

When Naruto returned, the remaining three matches had already been completed. Shikamaru and Dosu had wrapped up their matches quickly, and Lee and Gaara, that scary kid from the Sand team, had put on quite the show, adding several more craters to the room in the process. He passed by the medical team carrying Lee just as he walked in. When all the contestants who passed the preliminary had been called down and asked to take a number out of a box, Naruto already had a good idea what was going to happen. His number had been "one." Not a bad number to have, he supposed. When everyone else had gotten their number, the proctor for the first exam wrote them down on a clipboard and then showed them the brackets for the tournament-style third exam.

But one particular matchup caught his eyes. The first match was him. Him versus Hyuuga Neji.

He needed to start thanking God more.

His eyes never left Neji during the rest of the meeting, and he couldn't help a smile from appearing on his face as he thought of the multiple ways he'd wipe the floor with the Hyuuga. The explanatory conversation that was going on in the background was a simple buzz to his ears. One month to train, take what they learned about their opponents from the first two exams, blah, blah, blah.

His focus was solely on Neji. He could easily beat him, but at the same time, he knew he couldn't rely so heavily on his Shinra Tensei, which was the only real Rinnegan ability he understood. He'd need to spend the month and figure out its other capabilities. Neji would no doubt try to counter him by training as well too…

By the time he came out of his musings, the Hokage had just dismissed them. Oh well, he'd ask Sasuke about any important things he might have missed later.

"So how's Hinata?"

He blinked as he realized he was being talked to by that very person. "She had a small heart attack and some bad burns, but they said she'll be fine. Plus Kabuto said he'd look after her."

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. "That guy? Isn't he the son of one of the top doctors at the hospital?"

Naruto shrugged. "More or less."

Sasuke nodded and gave his teammate a sidelong glance. "So what are you going to do for the month?"

Naruto gave an honest shrug. "I dunno. I guess try and figure my powers out, but I'm not exactly sure how I'll go about doing it…"

"I think I can help you there."

Both genin turned to see the Hokage shuffle over to them both. "Hokage-jiji?"

The old man smiled at them. "Naruto, I need to speak with you in private. Sasuke, you're welcome to join us if you want."

The Uchiha politely stepped back. "No thanks. I'm gonna go see if I can get a sitrep on Hinata, and then head on home. I need a shower."

Hiruzen nodded and Sasuke left. Around them, the various remaining members of the competing teams were gathering with their comrades and leaving. The few who weren't were pretty much just him, Kakashi, Gin and Rangiku-san.

"Follow me Naruto. Don't worry, we won't be long."

Naruto didn't really have any choice but to follow.

It wouldn't be for several weeks that he'd think back on this moment and staunchly refuse to have any part of it.

A/N: And there's chapter fourteen! I tried to get Rangiku in there somehow, but again, it's so hard to give screen-time when she doesn't have any particular purpose. Oh, she will in the third exam, don't you worry about that, but for this one, it was kind of forced. Also, to those who say "Wow, you buffed Neji up," yes I did. In the canon, he was playing with Hinata during their fight, so I thought it appropriate that he actually try here. Also, you'll be pleased to know that Hinata wasn't so badly hurt as she was in canon. Well, I guess she kind of was, but in a different way… But trust me, it's necessary for what I'm going to do with… certain characters… *hint hint.*

Also, do you have any idea how hard it is to remake scenes that not only are boring and repetitive, but also add new content to without going completely off canon? Huh, do you? No you don't. BUT! I finally got it done, so you can't complain.

That said, thanks for reading, leave a review, and I'll see you next time! ^_^