I'm still trying to figure out how best to incorperate canon elements into the story, so feedback on the different styles is appreciated. Thank you. As always Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. Please review.

The fates were just laughing at Neji now. Well, the fates might have been an exaggeration, but Tenten was sure smirking up at storm. Just because he'd rolled his eyes at the fact that in this 'random drawing' for seats his sister ended up right next to that idiot did not mean she had to snort at him. If the crowd hadn't been so tense she probably would have been laughing her butt off. Honestly, you call a girl on checking you out once and she taunts you the rest of her life.

Neji settled into his seat and focused on the scarred face of their first proctor, Morino Ibiki. They had an exam to deal with; his brotherly neurosis would simply have to take a back seat. Lee was a couple rows in front of him, and Tenten further up. None of them were nearby anyone they knew. A ninja from Iwa was on Neji's left and one from Kumo on his right. From his angle, Neji couldn't tell who was near his teammates, not that he supposed it mattered entirely. Whatever this test was it seemed to be more important that the teams were separated than anything else.

As Ibiki explained the rules of the test, Neji studied his face. Whoever this proctor was, he knew how to handle his non-verbal cues at practically a Hyuuga's level. Not one twitch or glance gave away even the slightest hint about the true purpose of all these 'rules' he placed on the test. The only thing he could read was an air of control and foreboding. Neji wouldn't want to meet that man as an enemy, not yet at least.

The other examiners were far easier to read. They gave away that there was a hidden purpose to this written test, but what that was he hadn't yet figured out. It seemed the rules themselves were the clue, the knowing expressions on the other examiners as Ibiki explained the rules confirmed that. So what was the real test being held underneath the guise of a written exam?

Neji read over the nine questions and blinked once. Tenten would be able to answer the trajectory one, but the rest . . . well at least the rules finally made sense now. It wasn't a written test of their knowledge, it was a practical test of their skills. It was a cheating test. Neji almost wanted to laugh. As if a Hyuuga couldn't cheat without getting caught; their clan was practically made to ace this test.

Neji closed his eyes and silently activated byakugan. He made a quick scan of the room to check that no one was paying attention to him. There were no Hyuuga examiners, but that didn't mean some of them didn't know what the Hyuuga were capable of or seen it in action. If they noticed the raised veins on his face, none of them cared enough to pay attention to him.

Rows down Neji saw Tenten's fingers twitching against the table. He smirked. Leave it to Tenten to turn the room to her advantage. It probably hadn't taken more than a gesture for her to swoop the wires around the mirrors that allowed the examiners to see other parts of the large room. She moved with slow, careful precision to re-adjust the mirrors for her and –once he put on his forehead protector to catch the reflection– Lee.

A raised brow from his teammate drew his attention, as she knew it would. She was ready to cheat, but off who? That was Neji's job. Who was the person in the room most confident of their answers? He scanned each face carefully. There were some who appeared confident at first glance, but byakugan read the unease as they hoped they were cheating off the correct person and weren't getting caught. He didn't want them; he wanted the person who wasn't cheating. Who knew enough to answer the questions without hesitation? One of the rookies, the pink-haired one Lee had chased after, she wasn't cheating, but Neji wasn't about to count on a rookie's answers. If this was a test on cheating, then someone in here had to know the correct answers for them to cheat off of.

He smiled when he finally found one. Letting his eyes physically lock on the intended victim, Neji nodded. Tenten tapped her test once in acknowledgement and went to work to adjust the mirrors for her and Lee. If this was all the challenge the first part of the exam held, the test would be simpler than he thought.

When Neji finished copying down what his target had so far, he let his sight wander the room again. The rookies were oddly confident. Not like some of the genin who feared getting caught. Most were like him and steadily working on copying down the answers that they'd already covertly obtained. All but the idiot. He wouldn't admit to being pleased, but it was hard to decide which would be better, getting the chance to face Naruto and beat him to a tiny half-living pulp, or watching him slink away in failure after the first part of the exam.

'Neji-niisan!' Hinata's eyes widened in annoyance. Though she was ahead of him in the seats, byakugan lined her rather perturbed face. They weren't at the twins' level of non-verbal communication, but when both had byakugan active they weren't too shabby with basic conversation.

'What?' Neji shrugged with mock ignorance.

Hinata's nose wrinkled, 'Stop it.'

Neji cracked his knuckles and glared, 'Can't help what I want.'

'Really, Neji-niisan,' Hinata's eyes rolled.

'Who're you cheating off of?' Neji twitched, eyeing the room.

Hinata's gaze flickered to a young man a few seats to her right. Neji watched him for a moment before nodding. It wasn't the one he'd picked, but he was a good choice, too. No hesitation. She'd already copied half the answers, and, like him, was now waiting for her target to complete the rest.

'Good,' he smiled, 'You're teammates okay?'

'They'll be fine,' she nodded confidently.

'Then I'll see you in the next round,' Neji smirked.

As much as he didn't want to face her, Neji wanted to see Hinata succeed to the individual matches. It would be a great boost to her confidence, which no doubt would receive a another nasty hit from their grandfather when (after being so pleased to hear she was taking part in the exam) he found out she withdrew. That would be better than if she didn't make it as far as he did before withdrawing, though.

Neji's sight filtered beside her momentarily to the idiot looking ready to have a panic attack in his seat. 'Thankfully not him, too,' he grinned.

'Neji-niisan,' Hinata slumped.

Neji shrugged, though a smirk tugged at his lips. Hinata straightened up and avidly ignored him by scribbling down the next answer her target had finished. He almost laughed, but given the present atmosphere, he settled for releasing the rest of the smirk.

His target finished the ninth question only thirty minutes into the exam, giving Neji fifteen minutes before the mysterious tenth question would be asked. Not that he was worried about it. He, Lee, and Tenten had just proved that they could handle covert information gathering, and even if there was a problem with the last question, the three of them would only be down one question each, plenty to get them to the next phase of the chuunin exam. He let his enhanced gaze take one last sweep of the room. Lee was just setting his pencil down, done copying the nine answers. Tenten twirled the thin wires she'd used to adjust the mirrors around one of her senbon and casually returned it to its place in her left bun. Some girls had bows in their hair, Tenten had a small armory.

He was about to deactivate byakugan until the last question was given when his gaze passed over Hinata. He didn't need byakugan to know what she was thinking, which scared him more than anything.

'Hinata! Are you crazy?'

Her eyes looked down momentarily, but she didn't respond.

'Don't risk yourself for him,' Neji glared.

Hinata shirked her chin up defiantly and deactivated byakugan to cut off any further conversation. If only she'd be so obstinate to their grandfather.

Neji looked down at his test again, re-reading the answers he didn't understand for something to distract himself. The test was what was important. This was his chance to become a chuunin. He'd remember that if the ninja in him had to bludgeon the brother into submission.

Kaiten training with Tenten gave Neji an acute sense of when sharp, pointy objects were thrown his way. So when the glint of silver flashed in his peripheral, Neji was at attention immediately. Not a person stirred, not even the poor soul now shaking in his seat with a kunai sticking out of his paper. It'd taken thirty minutes, but the first genin was eliminated.

While everyone else watched the helpless boy get dragged out –quite literally– kicking and screaming, Neji's eyes returned to Morino Ibiki. Their proctor stood unperturbed at the head of the room. He scanned the room carefully, not caring about the ones who'd been eliminated, but the rest of them. He was analyzing their reactions.

It wasn't just a test of skills, Neji realized, it was a test of nerves as well. Everything Ibiki did was to unsettle and push the genin even further off edge. He wanted them so unsettled and terrified that by the time the last question was asked they'd be desperate to end the exam. No doubt there was something else planned for the last question. Neji was impressed. Ibiki was calm, calculating, and patient. After the exam, Neji might need to find out what exactly Morino Ibiki did in the village, because he was the kind of man Neji wouldn't mind working under one day.

One after another the genin began dropping like flies. Neji was glad his team was already done, it saved him any worry (unnecessary as it would be) of them getting caught. He watched the clock –slowly– tick away the last five minutes before the final question. No doubt the wait was all part of Ibiki's plan to attack their nerves. Not that it affected Neji. He was merely anxious to move on, not worried . . . no, not at all.

Ibiki's deep voice boomed like an exploding tag in the silent room as he explained the rules for the final question. (Rules? More rules?) All part of his plan, Neji reminded himself. It was getting a little difficult to remain completely unnerved when he could see the pleasure Ibiki was getting at shoving them all further and further into a psychological corner, and how hard he worked to make sure they stayed there.

Take away their chance to be chuunin ever? Neji almost wanted to applaud Ibiki. Was there anything more terrifying to a room of people trying to become chuunin? Anyone on the verge of losing it from the first part of the test was a goner now.

Tenten looked back, her eyes moving from Lee to Neji; Lee followed her example. Between them was not an expression of doubt or fear, but of solidarity. They were prepared to move forward no matter the consequences, all three together. A smile softened and last tenseness from his face as he return their glance with a resolute nod. As long as his team still had his back, Neji didn't care what the last question was.

Eternal genin or not.