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Garouga88 ... My brother, these are the thoughts of my heart. I have always treated animals more human than I should. A little of that influence came from watching Lassie. You should see me grab our family dog and talk to it. I will yell loads of profanity at it for the slightest thing it does, and it makes me laugh when I look at its big, scared eyes because it seems like it might actually understand what I'm saying? We have a Shitzu, a silky terrier and a golden retriever, by the way. And some goldfish. My sis has hamsters in her room. And there is this really fat, old stray tomcat that visits us late at night and gets pampered by my grandmother. Yeah, it's like a zoo here sometimes. I know about wolves; it's like the thing about predators losing vision at dawn. Just playing about the facts for the sake of fiction. You can see that Kuromaru has suddenly become a lot more important than you thought at first. Just let me say that you still have no idea how important. Think of the Ice Sculpture as a shield that is shaped exactly like you, meaning if you stand behind you're totally covered from attacks from the front. I already mentioned that Naruto already knows Rasengan. It's his father's jutsu; of course he would learn it. Shingo surprised Kankuro with his Flamebody and besides, Kanks is also trying to hold back from showing his real skills. Meaning he is taking on a flaming taijutsu guy barehanded without his puppets; of course he is much weaker that way.

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Disclaimer Time

Yay! The exams have finally started! ... Or have they!?
I don't own Naruto, but this fanfic is all mine! Please keep reading!

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Chapter 29 : Team Mutiny! Kiba Blows His Cool and Hinata Runs Away! (Chuunin Exams Arc)

All signs pointed to the end. Nothing seemed to be going right for her.

Hinata Hyuuga had discovered the moment she woke up that today is going to be a horrible day. Yes, today is the first day of the Chuunin Exams and exams always have a way of disheartening its participants, but that is not the point. She had a headache; a big one. It is like her skull had grown ten times heavier over the night and she felt it every time she twitched.

When she finally pulled herself out of bed, a cold wave washed over her arms giving her goosebumps. She sneezed. Then sniffed and sneezed again. Great, now she's got a cold too. A headache and a cold, her temperature shooting up and down; what a great day to catch a fever!

More things happened. She had tripped over her bedroom slippers and fallen quite painfully, rocking her headache even more. The rubbering around her faucet broke when she turned it on, spraying a powerful jet of water into her left eye. Afterward, she had pricked herself with her own shuriken when dressing up. Then screwed up her footing on the stairs and would have skidded all the way down on her rump if she did not wrap her arms around the banister to break her fall.

It is five minutes to seven o' clock; the sun had barely begun to rise yet. But she had to make it up early. Her father had asked to spar with her for a half hour before breakfast. It was a golden opportunity. Hiashi hardly gave her his time like this. He usually either worked with Hanabi or Neji and Hinata would just be 'tagging along'. It was nice to have him say to her "Come spar with me" for once rather than saying "I'm sparring with Hanabi today. Join in if you wish." She wouldn't pass it up even she had both her arms chopped off.

But did she really have to push herself so?

If Hiashi is the early bird type, then Aunt Hsien'e is just the opposite. She had lectured the poor girl for three long hours straight last night on protocols befitting an heiress. Basically, she thought she should teach Hinata how an heiress should behave during an exam to maximize her influence and honor the Hyuuga name. What a bore! As if that is not enough, she insisted on teaching her a traditional dance which is completely pointless. Then she made Hinata recite the 1,000 Questions of Hyuuga to finish before sending off to sleep at a little over 2.00 a.m.

"A quarter of an hour late!" Hiashi barked when she finally made it to the center courtyard. He had already warmed up and cousin Neji, who was also taking the exam, had already completed a round of sparring with him. The bastard smirked at her before Hiashi proceeded to smack her around like a rag doll.

Needless to say, he wasn't exactly pleased with her condition this morning. After only five minutes, she had collapsed breathing harshly and is unable to get up again. She had made no offensive moves at all.

"Neji, call out Hiruko and ask him for some cooling herbs! Hinata must be treated at once!"

It was a wonderful moment when Hiashi actually hugged her close to his chest. For the first time since she could remember. He felt warm. Daddy. Daddy felt so warm. Soft tears can to her eyes and she felt better already ... But it was a moment that lasted all of five seconds.

"A burden!" he spat as he carried his daughter indoors. "Always such a burden! Always getting in the way, wasting valuable time, eating up good resources ..." he babbled on and on for a few minutes, talking more to himself.

Hinata wished she had died with her mother.

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Kiba Inuzuka ran screaming from his house. His mother, Tsume, elicited a great roar as she kept hot on his heels. Thanks to his secret training with Master Kobi, Kiba had become a lot more agile and slippery now. Tsume could barely catch him. He was going to run all the way to town, but unfortunately he got tripped up by excited puppies that got in his way. The jounin violently grabbed her son and shrieked with thunderous laughter.

"N-No, Momma! Not in public! No! Nooooooooooo!"

Tsume kissed Kiba resoundingly on both cheeks, much to his immense embarrassment. Several of his neighbors are already up, sunning the laundry or taking out the garbage.

"Oh, shut up, Kibaka!" called Hana as she stepped out onto the front porch to spectate her brother getting his ego crushed. "It's all your fault anyway! If you had only let her do that inside the house, it would save you worlds of embarrassment!"

A number of young Inuzuka girls crowded around to watch Kiba getting a few kissy-kisses of good luck from his loving mother.

"What the fuck are you people looking at!? Don't you like have newspapers to read or chores to do! Get out of my yard!" the dog-nin screamed, flailing his arms to no avail as Tsume planted about a hundred kisses on his forehead all at once.

A few minutes later, the excitement is over. Kiba gave his mother a big hug, then his sister Hana. "Awww, come on, Momma ... and Nee'chan ... it's not like I'm going on some long trip and never coming back!"

Tsume shook her head. "No, Kiba, it's the other way round. Your sister and I have a new mission we will work on together. We'll be away from the village for four days."

Kiba groaned and ruffled his mother's hair. "Eh, that's great! I'll clean out the larder and the fridge! Why don't you make it five days, bitch; I don't want to see your ugly face for as long as possible!"

She punched him between the eyes knocking him flat on his back. Kuromaru took advantage of the situation and came over to lick Kiba's face several times, the doggy equivalent of what Tsume just did.

"Bleah! Enough with all the kissy shit, you guys! I'm gone!"

Kiba grabbed Akamaru and set the pup on his head before scampering away. He met up with cousin Gokun halfway down the road. Or more like bumped into him and fell down. The two of them had the same bad habit of running like idiots and had rounded the corner of the same house at the same time.

"Ow! My eye! Fuck it, Gokun, you piece of shit! Are you insane?"

"You! It's you who are insane, Kiba! Running around like that! People could get killed, you know! Oh god, my pretty lil' nose ..."

They eventually untangled themselves, helped slap the dirt off each others jackets and proceeded towards town. Gokun is a year older than Kiba and is in the same class as Neji Hyuuga. He had already been through the exams once, but failed on his last try.

Gokun is a plumpish fellow who is the exact same height as Kiba but twice his girth and had his same hairstyle. He worked with a bad-tempered bulldog companion, named Hidoimaru. An unfortunately ugly fellow with a head that seemed a little too big for his body; he actually looked remarkably like Gokun!

Hidoimaru and Akamaru looked each other up and down and begun a growling contest.

Gokun's teammates are one of Shino Aburame's cousins and a whoppingly fat and bubbly Akamichi girl named Cho'ranran, who is also his girlfriend (although Gokun insists that he is single so that he can ask any other girl out).

"So I hear Ibiki Morino is going to be one of the proctors this time around? Ain't he the interrogation specialist?"

Gokun nodded. "Yes, I heard it too! You don't want to fuck with this guy, man. My squad was in a joint mission that involved him last year. He's totally psycho!"

The two dog-nins approached the Academy with their puppies at their heels.

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"One more hour, boys. Don't waste it. From here on it is out of my hands. You have to handle everything on your own now."

Kiba and Haku bid Kurenai farewell. She had to follow the protocol and rally with the other jounin now. All genin squads will be in charge of registering themselves and seeing that they get themselves to the examination hall on time.

Kurenai had given her boys one last lesson that morning, a light one concerning her pet subject: genjutsu. She wanted them to take things as easy as possible. Hinata had been regrettably detained for reasons unknown. A runner from the estate had come and given Kurenai the message. She will spend the morning with her folks, then meet up with her squad mates shortly before the exams actually start.

"What do you want to do? Want to get something to eat? Or are you too full of nerves before crunch time?" Kiba asked, checking the time on his watch.

Haku smiled as they walked. "I'll have something if you have something. I am not really that hungry." He certainly seemed calm.

Kiba wasn't scared either. Hana had prepped him throughly, Tsume told him about her experiences as well and Gokun had given him several tips he picked up. Add the training from Kuromaru and Master Kobi and he's got a pretty impressive skill set going in. And don't forget the virtually limitless source of deadly Kyuubi chakra he could draw from in a pinch.

"It always starts with a written exam," Kiba told Haku as they sat down to a basket of French Fries and sodas at a fast food place. "It always has 10 questions and there is always some hidden trick they don't tell you."

"A trick?"

Kiba nodded. "It is not about simply testing how much you remember your theory, whether you've been keeping up with your geography and mathematics and crap like that. Hana reminded me that the shinobi's game is all about deception. We have to see through deception."

"What you mean is ... there is a catch involved. It is more than just answering the questions the conventional way. We can obtain answers by other means."

"Yeah, something like that," the dog-nin stuck five fries into his mouth all at once. "But the trick changes every year. Hana also said we can't count on cheating off one another because they'll spread us all out. Anyway, I guess we'll see ..."

Hinata finally found them with a half hour to spare. She is feeling only marginally better than she did this morning. Hiashi got her back into bed and made her sleep off the fever as much as possible. He even personally fed her some warm milk, which brought a little bit of comfort back to her spirit. Her temperature had dropped back down and her head had cleared a little.

Aunt Hsien'e just had to kill her mood right before she left the estate.

"Isn't this great, Ning'yoo? If you succeed in becoming a chuunin, you will be one step closer to taking over your father's mantel! And you will also officially be free of that silly chippie sensei of yours that dresses like a whore; what's her name again ... Kunai Yuki. My letter will go through and you can abandon your boorish teammates; that cursed Inuzuka barbarian and that stupid foreigner who pretends to be a girl. We'll find you a nice new squad; maybe you might even join your darling cousin Neji's squad. His sensei is a pervert and a scoundrel and as is one of his teammates. I'll rat them out too; I will, I will! Don't worry, Ning'yoo! Your Auntie Hsien'e is behind you all the way!"

Yeah, right. That just about killed any motivation she had for wanting to do anything. Ever.

Kiba made some silly comment about how she smelled like she just got out of bed. It wasn't much of a balm; she really is not in the mood for dumb jokes right now. It is only when the dog-nin started quizzing her about her family that fresh wounds got opened further and things that should not have happened just ... happened.

"Are you ready for this, Hinata? I'll bet your dad is going to be real proud!"

She is still a little bitter at father. 'Burden' kept playing about her mind, darkening her thoughts and poisoning her spirit. Eventually, her words came out poisonous too.

"I bet he won't," she said grimly, much to Kiba's surprise. "He's never been happy about anything since Mom died."

The dog-nin frowned. "H-Hey, Hinata ... Don't say stuff like that about your dad. What's your problem? You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, thank you!" she said curtly.

They walked up the road towards the Academy, Akamaru hitching a free ride on Haku's shoulder this time.

Kiba's brain was screwing around in confusion. Did Hinata just ... snap at him? No. No way. She doesn't do that. Hinata is a flower, an angel; she's sweet and innocent and gentle. She doesn't snap. It's not like he had said anything bad.

Kiba, you damn fool! Don't you understand? She must be really tense right now. She's worked over because of the exam. I know her dad's like this super strict character and wants to see her do really well. Yeah, it's just the nerves coming out, that's all. I am stupid and that's why I am calm. Only smart people ever get worried about anything!

"Oh, uhhh ... Hinata! We'll be doing a written exam today! I got some nice tips! My sister said ..."

She interrupted him! "It doesn't matter what your sister said, Kiba-kun! It's different every year, so there is no point in listening to her!"

Kiba felt like had been shot or something.

She said WHAT!? W-W-W-W-Wait! This is HINATA we're talking about! She couldn't have said that! No way, man! Kiba, you're going senile in your old age! You heard wrongly! Are the exam nerves getting to you too? Hahahahahahaha! That must be it! You're scared out of your pants, you stupid coward! Scared of some dumb exam! Bah!

Kiba punched his own jaw across the face, surprising Haku beside him. Hinata is walking up in front of them, looking strangely determined for once. Even her hands had been balled into tight fists.

He tried once more. "Oh hey, guess what, Hinata-chan! My cousin Gokun is taking the exam with us. And he is in the same class as your cousin Neji! Isn't that bizarre?"

The Hyuuga girl suddenly stopped and turned around. Her eyes looked furious! Just what is going on here? "Kiba-kun ... Will you please just ... just ... stop talking right now! I really don't want to hear about your stupid cousin or your stupid anything! Let's just go, okay?"

That did it. Now it is Kiba's turn to snap. The rage boiled within him again and if he did not consciously pull himself in immediately, he might have been able to avert from striking Hinata in the face. A dangerous thing, this Inuzuka rage. It is one of the weaknesses of being a man-beast.

Nobody talked about Gokun that way. He is like the closest thing to a brother Kiba had and they grew up together and had many lovely misadventures together. In Kiba's world, where animosity and rejection is thick and thin even amongst his own brethren, the few people who can look at him civilly and accept him for who he is are very precious. Kuromaru is one of them. Of course, Gokun knew nothing about Kiba's prisoner, but that is not the point.

He hastened his footsteps and grabbed Hinata's arm, spinning her around at once. "Hinata! How dare you say that! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

The girl shrieked in pain and Kiba let go at once. He swallowed nervously, flying between his shock at her cold words and his concern that he might have grabbed her a little too roughly.

"Ow! That ... That hurts, Kiba-kun! Why did you do that!? Am I burden to you too!? In a few days time, we won't be teammates anymore! Does that make you happy!?"

The dog-nin opened and closed his mouth mechanically, unable to process the logic of what he is hearing. "Hinata, I ... I mean, WHAT!? What's that supposed to mean!? Of course, we are teammates! What stupid thing are you talking about now!?"

"Stupid!? So I am a stupid little burden after all. That's all I am. That's all I've ever been. I thought you thought I was different, but I guess you're the same like the rest of them too. I'm ... I'm just useless and ... and boring! Just the stupid little mechanical heiress that needs to have her puppet strings pulled."

Kiba is starting to get a headache. He had known Hinata for a long time and had gotten to know her really, really well over the months they have spent together as genin of Squad 8. There was no third person butting in before Haku came onboard; he had her all to himself. He thought he knew her! He really did. But now ...

He grabbed her hand again. "Hinata-chan! Why ... Why are you saying all these hurtful and meaningless things!?"

He paused and took a breath, telling himself to calm down first. It would never do if he blew up himself. There is something wrong; something Hinata is not telling. Hinata had a problem. Yes! That must be it! She had a a secret and she's not telling because she's afraid of ... of being a burden!

"Hinata ... please ... please talk to me! Please tell me what's wrong! What happened?"

But the Hyuuga Heiress simply wrenched her hand away from his and turned his nose up at him. She took a deep breath, obviously on the verge of crying, but held her trembling chin as high as she could. "M-My business is my own. You have no right to p-p-pry into my private m-m-matters. Anyway, I'm ... I'm through with this ... I'm not going to the exam! You can do it by yourself; goodbye!"

She turned and ran back up the road leading away from the Academy. Kiba nearly wet his pants in fear and agitation when he saw this.

"HINATA!"

Haku grabbed his arm and stopped his charge. He had been silent the whole time, listening quietly and finally decided to take action.

"No, Kiba-san! Don't do anything! Leave things be! Leave it be for now!"

Kiba turned on his teammate like he was going to devour him. "LEAVE HER BE!? What the fuck is the matter with you!? I can't just let her run off like that! That fucking stupid bitch! I'll kill her for this! We ... We have the exam!"

"You're right! You're right, Kiba-san! We have the exam, like you said!" Haku held onto the dog-nin's powerful shoulders with all his might and dragged him towards the Academy's entrance. "Let us get in and register right away now!"

"Haku! Is your brain full of shit this morning!? We need Hinata with us or we might as well go home right now! They'll never accept a two-man team!"

The Mist-nin quickly ran a hand up and down the taller genin's back, trying whatever he can to calm him down. "Yes, yes. Of course, you are right. We need her. And she knows that. She'll be there. Just give her time."

Kiba practically threw Haku on the ground. "Time ... TIME!? God fucking damn it, we don't have time! You stupid idiot!" He pulled his watch out of his pocket so roughly that the seams of the pocket ripped apart at once. "Look! We have only five more minutes to get up there! What time!? It's over! We're finished! Kaput! We'll never do the exam now!"

Haku thought for a moment then decisively punched Kiba right in the nose. He had not wanted to do it, but Kiba once told him that the Inuzuka sometimes exchanged physical blows with the ones they loved to keep them from being carried too far in their anger.

He followed it up with a punch to Kiba's gut. When the dog-nin bent double, Haku grabbed his head with both hands and bore his eyes into his.

"Kiba-san! Listen to me!" he shouted loudly so Kiba would shut up and listen. "Hinata-san is a good girl! You know that! I've not been with you guys for very long, but even I know that! That was not her! She wasn't herself just now! The normal Hinata doesn't talk like that and you know it! You said so yourself! So let's just give her time to cool it off! She'll come back! You know that too! Search your feelings, Kiba-san! You love her, don't you? You love her very much! And she loves you! Even I see that! She would never hurt you! Especially not you!"

The dog-nin magically managed to cool down at once. He stood up straight again and brushed Haku's hands away calmly. The anger faded off his face and changed to a mournful expression.

"Oh, man ... did I do something wrong? What was I saying, Haku? Did I say something stupid again to hurt her? I am such a damn idiot; sometimes I don't even know what comes out of my mouth! Oh, god ... Hinata! What have I done to you!?"

He started smacking his own head and Haku had to stop him again. "Stop that before you give yourself a concussion! Come on! We're wasting valuable time! We have gotta at least make it into the rally room before they close the doors on us! Let us go now!"

Kiba took a deep breath and nodded, finally calming himself down for good.

Then the two of them just ran. They made it through the big hall and up the stairs to the first floor. The next flight of stairs is at the end of the corridor. Kiba tripped over his own feet for a moment in his distress, but they kept going till they hit the second floor. Five classrooms down the left wing, they could see some shinobi shuffling around outside.

"That must be it! Go, go, go!" Haku pounded on Kiba's back to get him going. He knew he must not give Kiba even a second to stop and wonder about Hinata, or he might suddenly decide to turn back and search for her.

Finally, they reached the right classroom with a precious five seconds to spare!

Kakashi Hattake, the renowned Copycat-Nin fabled to have mastered over a thousand different jutsu, was just walking out of the room after peeking to see that his own squad had made it in safely.

He paused and smiled at them from behind his mask. "My, my! Cutting it a bit close, aren't you, Squad 8? Living on the edge is more exciting, but don't make it a habit now!"

Kiba nodded and bowed copiously, a bit out of breath. "I'm ... I'm sorry, sir! We just lost our third teammate! We were trying to talk to her and then ... and then ..."

The silver-haired jounin's one good eye widened with astonishment. "What are you talking about? Isn't that your third teammate?" He jerked his chin over them.

Kiba and Haku spun around at once. Hinata is standing there, all sweaty and out of breath looking very, very forlorn, but she is there!

The dog-nin had never had a happier moment in his life. He practically flung Haku into the wall and rushed over to her. He paused and inched carefully when he got close, afraid that she might run off again.

"H-H-Hinata?"

She burst into tears at once. "K-K-K-Kiba-kun! Kiba-kun, I am s-s-s-so s-s-sorry!"

He put his arms around her then, finally able to break out a smile. That moment is epic, frozen in time. Too bad Haku had to break it up and remind them that they are already late.

The chuunin on duty irritably hustled them into the room and the doors closed as they entered.

Kakashi stood by for awhile, fingering his little orange book. He chuckled beneath his breath and turned to go. "Ahhhh ... little seeds. It always starts out as little, innocent seeds. The spring will come and the flowers will bloom ... ahhhh ... the sheer beauty of it all!"

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CHAPTER END. Thanks for reading.

Short chapter that literally drags a few seconds of the characters' live span. Why do I do this so often? But this is the setup for greater things to come. Fear not! The written exam takes place next chapter! Believe it!

The "What's wrong with Hinata?" cliffhanger from last chapter is now answered slightly. Further chapters will reveal more and more of what is going on; but just for clearance's sake, I'll explain something. Kurenai was upset because Hinata had told her what is going on. After all, Kurenai knows a little of her shoddy relationship with her father. I did not write that scene but you can assume it happened probably after the duo focusing thing with Haku. The training ended and Haku left, leaving Hinata and Kurenai alone. The jounin talked to Hinata and asked her personal questions and it eventually came out. It basically has to do with difficulties Hinata is having with the usual suspects in her own home.

Now don't get all carried away with all the little hints you see in this chapter. Kiba and Hinata are not in love with each other yet! Haku's comments referred to the platonic love they shared between them as comrades, that he had observed over the time he spent with them. And Kakashi is just being an Icha Icha fanboy as usual.

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About Kiba's Cousin.

I N U Z U K A . G O K U N.

Kiba already introduced you to him. Remember? His bullshit stories at the Hyuuga house.

He'll be my filler/comedy guy for scenes in the Inuzuka household, so watch out for him. He's a bad influence on Kiba, a real jerk who treats women like toys. There is no other boy close to their age in their generation so they naturally hang out together.

Gokun 's teammates ... I'm giving him an Aburame and an Akamichi (which is a taijutsu type like Hyuuga, so the dynamic is the same). You may be asking, shouldn't Akamichi be in the usual combo with Nara and Yamanaka? Realistically, you cannot expect three clans to yield the exact same ratio of children every generation! So this girl, who I'm naming Cho'ranran, is like a 'leftover' that needed to be teamed up somehow.

I did not put this team into the profile (Chapter 26) for two reasons. Firstly, well ... I didn't think of it. And secondly, this team won't make it past the Forest of Death. They are just there to make up the numbers so it is not so important that you get to know them so well.

Hidoimaru (Gokun's bulldog) : I wasn't able to find the proper phrase for 'bad-tempered'. There are several different words in Japanese for 'bad', each to be used in a different situation. 'Hidoi' is the term specifically for when you refer to a 'bad' headache. So try to imagine a bulldog pup that is always grumpy like he's got a massive headache. That's Hidoimaru. White dog with brown speckles all over. He is much bigger than Akamaru, but Akamaru likes to challenge him anyway.