Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

sigh No one seems to like this pair of stories, but never fear! I will try my best to make them end well, promise!

Enjoy!

Hinata smiled for the camera, putting up her fingers in a "victory" sign, before it clicked. When she handed her application to Naruto, he grinned, chuckling.

"That's a good picture for you, Hinata-chan," he praised.

"Thank you, Ot—Hokage-ojii-san," she teased to cover up her mistake, sticking her tongue out at him.

Her teacher gaped at her disrespect, as Naruto laughed, actually standing and patting her head. "You've got guts, Hinata-chan. Just like me. You'll make an excellent ninja!"

Hinata smiled and nodded. "I've gotta go train now. See you some other time, Hokage-ojii-san."

She ran out, grinning at Itachi, who was waiting outside. He grinned back, before running with her.

In a couple weeks, they were sitting in their classroom, waiting for the teams to be announced. A boy sat by Hinata, who abruptly ignored her but stared at Itachi like he was the most interesting thing in the world. She didn't understand why he was so popular, besides his grades and impressive techniques. She liked him because he was her half-brother and very kind to her, it didn't matter that she had been the student with the lowest scores in their class.

"Team Three: Tachibana Haruto, Uchiha Itachi—"

The boy next to her cheered, obviously named before Itachi. "All right, we're teammates, Itachi-kun!"

Itachi didn't seem to notice him, staring out the window. Hinata glared at him, telling him with her eyes not to think that they would be friends just because they were on the same team.

"—and Hyuga Hinata," the teacher ended, frowning at her.

Hinata actually stood up and yelled, "Yay! I'm with Itachi!"

The boy, Haruto, glared at her this time, before protesting, "Sensei! Why do you have me teamed up with her?! I want to switch!"

"I'm sorry, but I have these teams set up by the grade received on the final test," the teacher explained. "Itachi-kun was the one given top marks, you were average, and Hyuga-chan was given the lowest."

Hinata grinned, knowing that she'd gotten much better in the little time she'd had between graduating and now. She was now a genin and proud she was. She would never doubt herself again, never be scared of failing, because without this confidence, she wouldn't be able to do what she'd done with Neji, who was teaching her advanced techniques, proud of what she'd been able to accomplish. She was better than she'd been since she'd started when she was almost seven. She learned so quickly that it was scary. Her mother was very proud of her, but told her to not show her excellence or she might get picked on just like Itachi. She could produce six clones at once now, her chakra had grown so much.

She now wondered who her jonin teacher would be. She'd heard many stories about several different jonin who had known the Hokage when he'd been a genin, but had advanced quicker than he had. Some had advanced to ANBU or retired, but some had stayed jonin and were going to teach this year's genin. She hoped it was someone strong and smart.

Haruto glared at her again, scowling. "Why'd I have to be teamed up with the dropout of the class?"

Hinata countered, "What about that weird name, Haruto? Did you get named after the Hokage?"

The boy sputtered, before growling at her. "Don't you tell anyone! He's just an idiot that got lucky of getting taught by the great Kakashi and one of the legendary Sannin!"

"You'd better not let him hear you say that," Itachi warned. "He'll make sure you never pass any exam and stay a genin forever, if not pound you into the ground."

Haruto snorted. "Ha! Whatever."

A jonin teacher came in, a man with his hair up in a ponytail sticking straight up from the back of his head, with a lazy expression on his face, his forehead protector wrapped around one of his biceps. He looked around and called, "I'm here to pick up Team Three."

Hinata stared at him like he was a freak. This lazy-looking ninja was to be their teacher?

Itachi poked her and stood, walking over to their teacher, who eyed the two boys and girl. He stopped to look at both Itachi and Hinata, and sighed. "An Uchiha and a Hyuga in the same team. How troublesome."

Hinata bristled. "How am I going to be troublesome, Sensei?!" she yelled, eyes on fire.

"You'll be progressing so fast I won't have anything to do except teach your teammate, who's obviously an average student and will need help with his techniques, you won't have the patience to cooperate with him," the jonin explained, waving a hand to Haruto.

The boy snapped, "It's not me you'll have to slow down for, Sensei! Hinata-chan is the dunce of the class! She can't even mold chakra right!"

The man looked Hinata up and down again and shook his head, disagreeing with the boy's assessment. "If she was a dunce, she doesn't move like one. I want to see how well you can use your chakra. Come with me."

"Don't you want an introduction?" Haruto asked, following the bored-looking man.

"I know who you all are, since I was shown your papers, but you can call me Shikamaru."

Hinata and Itachi gasped at the name, while Haruto looked unimpressed. Hinata asked, "Weren't you the only one made a chunin during the exam that ended with the Third Hokage's death? Because of how well you executed everything in your match?"

Shikamaru snorted. "It was troublesome, but yes, I did. How much have you heard about me?"

"You're a genius!" Itachi gushed. "I'd want to be as smart as you when I become a chunin, especially when it comes to strategy!"

Shikamaru frowned at the praise, but nodded. "I am a master at strategy, but sometimes it takes some time to figure out what to do to come on top of some situations. I'm only teaching because it was too troublesome to become part of the ANBU."

Hinata and Itachi stared at him as they stopped in a part of the woods, three really tall trees in front of them. This guy was only doing this because he was too lazy to take the test to become part of Konohagure's ANBU. How well would he train them if he thought everything was too much to even put an effort into?

Haruto seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he pointed an accusing finger at their teacher. "You aren't gonna teach us much, are you?!"

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed and he countered, "Just because I said it was troublesome, doesn't mean I won't train you, Haruto-kun. I volunteered and I will do as I'm told. That's what a ninja does, no matter how troublesome it seems. It doesn't matter if you're a cocky punk and the other two are too excitable and talented for my taste."

Hinata scowled at that and Itachi crossed his arms, though both knew it was the truth. This guy was smart and very perceptive, and they respected him enough to keep their mouths shut and not sass their teacher. They'd been taught by two of the most powerful retired jonin in their techniques, and their chakra control was excellent. But although they knew their abilities, they wouldn't show too much until it was necessary.

Shikamaru then made a seal with his hands before chakra swirled around his feet. He then walked straight up the nearest tree, stopping about halfway up. "This is the exercise I want you to do, to test your chakra control. I want you to get at least to this height, mark your progress with these." He threw three kunai, one at each genin's feet, before he jumped down. "Start."

Hinata closed her eyes and concentrated her chakra on her feet, though she made it so she'd done too little. She ran for the tree, running only a few steps before falling on her back. She saw Haruto go a little further, slashing the tree with his kunai, but Itachi kept going until he reached a branch at the same level that Shikamaru had stopped at, before sitting on it, crossing his arms and staring at the jonin with expectation.

Shikamaru nodded at Itachi. "It seems you have perfect control over your chakra, Itachi-kun, as I suspected. Hinata-chan put too little chakra in her feet, which is a disappointment, and Haruto-kun is average, as expected. Itachi-kun, give some pointers to your teammates, and they can try again."

Itachi turned to Hinata, who smirked at him, shaking her head when he came over to help her. She knew this exercise already, she was just acting dumb because she wanted everyone to think she was a dunce still. He sighed and looked over at Haruto, who was calling his name.

They continued until sunset, when Shikamaru got bored, leaning against a tree with his hands behind his head. "To think that one of the Hyuga clan was this poor with controlling her chakra…how troublesome. Tomorrow we'll be going on a mission, so don't be late, that would be really troublesome."

Hinata nodded and knew through the descriptions of her father, D-ranked missions were more like running errands and doing public service. She could deal with that, as long as her teacher wasn't going to keep using that word. Did he even know what it meant?

I just had to put Shikamaru in there, because it was funny!

Please review!