The First Exam

The Hyuga Compound.

Hinata walked towards the family's capacious dojo, motivation growing weaker with each step on the mahogany floorboards. The soft thuds echoed in the quiet vastness of the garden.

Natsu told her that her father- to her surprise- wasn't in the office today and was- to her surprise- teaching Hanabi personally. It shouldn't be a shock, but Hinata couldn't believe that her father was already giving Hanabi so much attention to her training. At this rate, Hanabi would become a top-ranked academy student just like Neji was. Hinata couldn't remember him giving her that kind of attention when she was Hanabi's age. He tossed her aside like an old rag, leaving her to Kurenhai's care. It made sense though since her father made it very clear that Hanabi was to be the new heir of the Hyuga clan. Not her. Seeing the happiness on Hanabi's face as the new alleviated the strangling pain Hinata felt at the loss of her title.

As she reached the entrance, Hinata's thudding heart plummeted to her stomach in one quick drop.

"Father, m-may I speak to you?" Hinata asked tentatively.

Hanabi looked over to her sister, a smile on her face. Hiashi stepped out of the dojo, giving Hanabi a curt nod. Understanding the gesture, Hanabi's eyes turned away from her sister and practised her kicks again. Hinata was caught off-guard by her loud cries as she threw a flurry of well-aimed kicks.

"T-the Chunin Exams are s-starting," she said, unable to look up to her father, "I-I wondered if y-you t-think I should compete."

"For someone of your ability, it would be futile to consider it this year."

Hinata's head flicked up at the harshness, he eyes wide in dismay. She expected a balanced evaluation from her father, but the brutal reply left her speechless.

Hiashi was told of his daughter's progress on each mission. It was routine to receive a monthly report from Kakashi Hatake about his daughter's development on the field. He saw her hesitancy dwindle when she returned after a task, a spring in her step that was otherwise a slow shuffle. With team-mates like Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, it was expected. The loudmouth outcast and the popular boy from the reputable Uchiha clan. Though she was slowly breaking out of her metal shell of meekness, Hiashi believed Hinata was wholly unprepared from the brutal reality of the shinobi life. Unlike Hanabi, Hinata lacked the attribute that made an effective shinobi: ruthlessness. A quality even the branch member Neji Hyuga possessed perfectly.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Neji will be competing in the Chunin Exams as well and we all know that you do not stand a chance against him."

"B-but I've become stronger!"

"You will never be strong enough to beat Neji. Think of the shame we will have to endure when a branch member defeats the oldest of the main family in front of the entire village."

"R-Right..." Hinata's eyes fell to her feet, her confidence blasted into smithereens.

She wanted to fight her case, to spit out that she had learned more techniques, that she had better grasp on chakra control that Kakashi-sensei always praised her for. She was certain she'd do well with Naruto and Sasuke by her side, but all she could utter was a robotic response.

"I understand, Father."

"You will have better odds in next year's Chunin exams."

The Leaf Village was busier than normal. Civilians watched with curious eyes as groups of foreign shinobis walked past in groups of three, their gait strong and arrogant smirks. Their village insignia gleamed proudly on the metal plates of their bands: the villages hidden in the Mist, Sand, Cloud, Stone and more. There were village symbols none one had ever seen before. The Sound village was apparently a new hidden settlement with a small army of ninjas. They all strolled through the streets, sizing up their competition and enjoying the little free time they had until the first trial commenced. It was time to display the strength of their village and the might of their shinobis to the world.

Naruto couldn't be more excited about the exams, finding Sakura and asking about her participation was number one on his list. He rubbed the pounding bruise on the back if his head, wincing at the pain. His attempt at asking Sakura out on a date failed again, but that was probably because it was a bad time. They were going to be competing against each other in the exams so Naruto didn't mind her overzealous reaction. He'd try asking her again after the Chunin exams were over.

To make matters worse, Konohamaru interrupted, crawling nearby disguised as a cube-shaped rock. His young disciple thought she was his girlfriend, much to his delight. Sakura wasn't too pleased with the deduction, unleashing hell on the poor boy too. Naruto couldn't understand her abhorrence a the idea of him being her boyfriend. Hinata never reacted like that around him.

A frown fixed on his expression as he lowered his hand. That wasn't what bother him.

It was the ninjas from the Hidden Sand village. The boy with purple tribal marking on his face, the girl who was nonplussed about his threats towards them, and most of all, the quiet red-head that the two seemed deathly afraid of: Gaara of the Desert. What kind of nick-name was that anyways? They were obviously experienced shinobis, carrying weapons Naruto had never seen before.

And Sasuke stopped the rising confrontation with a tiny rock. Literally. And they didn't even bother asking what his name was, just Sasuke's!

Sasuke this, Sasuke that!

When he beats Sasuke in the exams, then everyone will know his name! Naruto gritted his teeth. How could Sasuke be cool all the time? It infuriated him how his rival always outdid him. His imagination let loose as he imagined winning the final match against Sasuke and being awarded with a green flak jacket. All his classmates throwing him in the air in celebration while the villagers cheering his name. Naruto promised quietly he would make that a reality one day. Being chunin was another step closer to his dream to become hokage and he wouldn't let anyone stand in the way.

A patch of dark blue trudging opposite him caught his eye, bringing him out of his thoughts. A grin appeared on his face as he waved his hand to catch her attention.

"Hinata!"

The Hyuga stopped at the call of her name, her hand clutching the piece of paper in her pocket.

"It's nearly 3 'o clock. I'm heading to the academy to give my form," he cried gleefully, "wanna come with me?"

Hinata's gaze drifted downwards. Naruto observed her deflated posture, the emptiness in her eyes causing his eyebrows to knit together in concern.

"What wrong?"

"I don't t-think I'll be taking part in the Chunin Exams."

"Why not?" Naruto exclaimed, taken aback by her confession.

"I d-don't think I'm good enough yet."

"That's not a reason to not to compete!"

"My cousin Neji is participating and he's a Hyuga genius... I d-don't know if I even have a chance."

Naruto scrunched his face in distaste, his eyes becoming fox-like slits.

It was no surprise to hear she was scared of the competition too. There were ninjas much older than them competing in the exams. Some that looked like it wasn't their first time. Their years of experience was no doubt an advantage compared to their months of missions as rookie genins, even if they did pass an S-ranked mission by accident. It was terrifying, but Naruto would never admit that out loud. Life taught him that there was was no point of dwelling on negativity.

"How will you know your true strength if you don't take the risk to find out?"

Hinata's eyes lifted to meet his confident sapphire glint. She twiddled her index finger together, nervousness slowly engulfing her. "Do y-you think I've gotten stronger?"

"Yeah! When we spar, I'm amazed how good you are at taijutsu and your Byakugan is an awesome kekkei genkai. The competition won't know what hit them! Come'on me and Sasuke are entering, it'll be really weird without you."

"Y-your right," she said, her tone conveying utmost gratitude, "thank you N-Naruto."

"Let's head there before it's too late!"

She pulled out the paper from her pocket and uncurled it the form days earlier. She smiled at Naruto, grateful at the courage she discovered thanks to him. On the way to the academy, Hinata listened to Naruto rant about how he would beat Sasuke in finals, sweat-dropping at the typical diatribe.

When Hinata and Naruto arrived, there was a commotion in the corridor. Sasuke was already there, his arms crossed and looking dangerously annoyed. Along with other shinobis they hadn't met, Sakura, Kiba and Shino were there too. Naruto and Hinata swapped skeptical looks as they joined Sasuke.

"That's because this is the second floor!" Sakura announced, pointing to the number on the door.

"So you noticed the genjutsu?" One of the boys that blocked the entrance said.

"Damn right we did!" Kiba cheered, Akamaru barking in agreement.

"To be accurate, it was Sakura who detected the illusion, certainly thanks to Kurenhai-sensei's rigorous mental exercises in the art of genjutsu. I as well suspected-"

"We get it, Shino!" Kibo and Saskura said automatically, cutting Shino off from his analytical lecture.

The genjutsu dispersed, much to the relief of the room of impatient genins. The door number was in fact 201. Sakura saw the trick a mile away. Kurenai-sensei's training not only helped Sakura perform genjutsu, but how to use chakra to figure out if you're trapped in one too. And Sakura was confident that she could have well released everyone from it too, but it was much more satisfying seeing everyone's confusion at her declaration. They would know not to underestimate her in the Chunin exams!

"Wow, Sakura you're amazing!" Naruto cried. His enthusiasm flattened as she took no notice of his compliment.

"Good job, Sakura," Sasuke said, impressed by her astuteness.

Sakura blushed wildly. Had Sasuke acknowledged her smartness? Did he actually compliment her for real? She jumped up in joy. Her inner-self punched in success, a step closer to Sasuke finally accepting her! This was the first he ever said something nice to her!

As Naruto burned with jealousy, Sasuke regretted his comment. Honestly, Hinata couldn't fathom why there was a huge rivalry between the two. Hinata wondered how much worse the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke would have been if Sakura was on team 7 instead of her. Would Naruto hate Sasuke ever more? Would Sasuke even care? Probably not. The vexed Uchiha watched Sakura squeal like a pig non-stop. A slim genin donning an hideous green jumpsuit stopped the torturous noise that grated his ear-drums.

"I am Rock Lee and you are Sakura, right?"

"Huh?"

"Please be my girlfriend! I vow to protect you with my life!" His eyes twinkled at her, hoping he'd be charmed with his declaration.

"Definitely not..." Sakure muttered, stepping away from the lanky boy, "weirdo..."

Naruto empathized with the Lee, giving him a pat on the back as he drooped at the rejection. He too was enchanted by Sakura's prettiness, but Sakura was hard to impress, but he'd never give up. Hinata chuckled at the scene, but stopped as Neji made his way over to them, a brunette following him. His attention wasn't directed at her, however. She felt a cool relief at that.

"Hey you, what's your name?" he asked, his tone measured with interest, "you're a rookie, aren't you?"

Sasuke examined the older boy beckoning him. His eyes were just like Hinata's; a Hyuga no doubt, Sasuke deduced. He gave the Hyuga a nonchalant glance, his hands tucked in his pockets.

"I'm not obliged to answer."

"What's that!?"

Hinata's her mouth gaped open at Sasuke's rudeness. Neji wasn't someone you'd want as an enemy! His sturdy gaze moved over to her and Hinata didn't know why she suddenly stared at the floor.

"Hello, Brother Neji."

Sasuke eyes narrowed, eyes swiveling around to Hinata in mild surprise. Naruto's eyes darted to the older boy. That was the Neji that was supposedly super strong. Neji's pale eyes matched Hinata's, but there was a coldness poorly hidden in his that Hinata didn't possess. He didn't respond to her, simply staring at her with a controlled expression on his face.

"You with the attitude!" Lee called out, "My name is Rock Lee, and you are Sasuke Uchiha, correct? I challenge you to a fight!"

Tenten sighed, shaking her head as Neji's glare became more pronounced.

"You've heard the Uchiha clan, and yet you're challenging me?"

"According to the rules, we cannot enter battle with other genin until the exams have commenced," Shino interrupted, "you'll get your fight, but not now."

"Guys, come'on, lets go," Naruto exclaimed, starting to get bored with the delay and wildly irritated by the confrontation that left him out of the loop. Again, it was Sasuke they wanted to fight, not him!

"I wonder if Shikamaru, Ino and Choji are participating too," Kiba added as he continued down the corridor. He smirked, "this is gonna be fun, at least for those good enough to make the cut, right Sasuke?"

Sakura shot her team-mate a glare as Sasuke matched his smirk. "Careful Kiba you don't get over confident."

"Yeah, just you wait and find out how hard we've trained!" Naruto cried, "we weren't sat around, picking daises, you know!"

Naruto pretended he flower-picking mission never happened, his competitive streak taking center-stage.

"Well, neither were we!"

"I-I think it'll be nice to see everyone again," Hinata chimed in, attempting to quell the animosity.

"The rookie nine," Shino muttered in thought, walking behind the group.

"Urgh, that means Ino will be there!" Sakura groaned, not-so-subtly moving closer to Sasuke's arm.

"I'm walking, Sakura, no need to pull," he said, his tone exasperated.

No cheating; that wasn't the rule of the test strangely. It was not to get caught cheating. To add to the strangeness, it was not to get caught three times.

Most quickly understood the real purpose of the test: the ability to extract information without detection. A crucial skill for intelligence-based missions. As the time ticked by, the room became emptier as genins were disqualified for being caught cheating for the third time.

"Number 10, you fail!"

Sakura Haruno scribbled her answers on the paper, ignoring the yells in the background. Her studying paid off as usual. Although the questions were much harder than she expected, after some deliberation she'd find the answer somewhere in her mind. Her eyes flitted to her team-mates, a smile on her lips. She knew she could count on them. Shino's bug flew around, relaying the answers to him. Shino's smartness almost matched hers. Akamaru looked around, helping Kiba uncover the answers his clueless mind didn't know. Kiba was a less annoying version of Naruto, one Sakura could deal with and not be tempted to sling a punch at his face. They would ace the exam for sure.

She looked at the blond that crossed her mind. He was seated on the row in front of her. Pity filled her as she observed his body quaking in confusion.

That pity quickly vanished as Sakura narrowed her eyes. If Naruto failed then Sasuke would fail too. Time was running out and by the look of his glaringly blank paper, Naruto had zero idea. Just like back at the academy, Naruto scored the worst in the class. Sakura exhaled with annoyance, turning back to her paper and rereading her answers. She couldn't become distracted by angry thoughts of the dumb genin or her future boyfriend.

A sudden force shot through her from behind, forcing her body forwards over the desk. A smirk appeared on her lips, pushing herself back into a sitting position.

'Don't mind me hanging out in your soul for a bit, Sakura!' Ino said gleefully, looking at Sakura's answers with the pinkette's body she stole. 'Time to memorize the answers.'

"Numbers 23 and 59, you fail," the invigilator announced as more geinins left the room. "Number 41, fail!"

Hinata was all too aware of the clock. She was stumped on most of the questions. They were too advanced for a genin entrance exam, she was sure of it. Enlarged veins protruded from her temples, giving her a perfect vision of almost everyone's answers in the room. An older boy sat a few feet away had answers all written in a matter of minutes and was now leaning back. He looked too relaxed. Hinata pursed her lips suspiciously, reading his answers and copying them on her paper. She was ashamed to be cheating but the last question was impossible and this was the only way she could finish the test.

Beside her, Naruto gripped the side of his head with one hand and gripped the pen tightly in the other.

"Naruto, you can copy my answers," Hinata whispered, moving her paper discreetly closer to him.

Azure eyes widened at what she was insinuating. A reluctant smile stretched on his face.

"Thanks, but I can't risk getting caught," he whispered back, though appreciating her offer of help.

Hinata pulled back her test paper at his response. Naruto swiftly regretted his words as his eyes stared at the questions again.

Tick...tick...tick...

Five minutes left.

"Number 72 and 88: fail!"

"No way!" the genin protested, only to be promptly defenestrated by a chunin invigilator.

Naruto ruffled his hair, frying his brain nerves as he read the questions for the hundredth time, as if he could magically conjure the answer out of thin air if he willed it hard enough.

'Decipher the code in the text above. Write down the hidden message and explain whether or not it is an effective form of encryption.'

He didn't know.

He screamed internally for the umpteenth time.

"Number 62: fail!"

Tick...tick...

'Line B in the diagram indicates the trajectory of a shuriken thrown at enemy C by ninja A seated atop a three 7 metres tall. Describe and formulate the trajectory required if C were positioned at point D, E and F. Also predict the farthest possible range of the shuriken and explain your answer.'

He didn't know!

Beads of sweat trailed down his face and soaked through the test paper.

Tick...

"Numbers 98, 45 and 33: fail!"

Naruto side-eyed Hinata's paper, his eyebrows shooting to his hair-line. She completed all her answers to all ten questions. He felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach as his eyes swiveled back to his horribly blank paper. Not only was he letting Hinata down, but he didn't want to even think about Sasuke's reaction if they failed their chance at becoming Chunin all because he couldn't answer a bunch of lousy questions!

"Time's up," Ibiki announced, a smugness etched scarred face at the sight of frightful genins.

Naruto's head snapped up, cold fear racing through his body.

A/N: Honestly I was really stumped when it came to this chapter. So that and boring work stuff lead to a late update. I hope I've done it justice but I'm still not entirely satisfied. Good news is I'm almost done with the next chapter- it was much more exciting to write about the forest trial! This chapter is a lot shorter compared to the next one. What do you think of this style? It is too "chopped"?

There were some mixed responses about the last chapter, but all I'll say for now is that the love triangle is pretty redundant since Sasuke has other priorities, Hinata's too shy and Naruto is clueless. Keeping in mind at this stage they are all prepubescent teenagers so romance isn't even a subplot at this point in the story.

Thank you all who reviewed. Feedback really motivate me a lot, so please leave a review of your thought or what you'd like to see!