Mid-late November just like I promised!

This Chapter has a funny plot where I think what I did is both incredibly safe and incredibly risky. I can understand some people being upset about my choice, but see what I have to say at the end before cracking down on me through Reviews.

Also, does anyone want more Team 10 moments? Because we have some in this chapter!

The Chunin Exams arc

Chapter 24: Dark Clouds (v1.0)

The Konoha Ninja Academy.

Despite not making any friends during all the years she spent in there, Hinata had quickly grown fond of the place. It became an escape from her clan, her father and the crushing expectations they had, much like her hobbies did… for the most part anyway. Test scores and her lagging performance compared to fellow classmates such as Sasuke still served as a source of anxiety every now and then, and she had been bullied during her first month too, but still.

It was an odd feeling, standing at the entrance of this familiar building she had grown to associate with "safety" and "comfort", only to feel nothing but dread instead.

But it wasn't illogical. That's where the first part of the Chunin Exams would be held after all.

She took a deep breath and began to walk.

'This is it. No going back now.'

It wasn't like she had much of a choice anyway. Team 8 and the other teams involved in the Hokage's project had basically been forced to participate in the exams, as a way of testing the effectiveness of the project she assumed.

What surprised her was that Kurenai had faith that Team 8 was prepared for the challenge, and thus, in theory, Hinata knew she had nothing to fear. In practice… it was so very hard to convince her heart of that, but the idea at least helped to keep the girl from outright panic.

What also helped was that she was almost three hours early. The academy was open but empty, with only a couple chunin running around the corridors. There were a few signs directing the exam takers to the exam site right from the first floor, but Hinata ignored them completely and went to another corner of the third floor, taking a familiar path towards the classroom she spent much of her childhood in.

That was where the nine rookies had agreed to meet up before the exams. It had been Ino's suggestion, something about how it would be good for them to stay together while they could. Strength in numbers, she had said. Team Guy had declined the offer, apparently because they had ex-classmates of their own that they wanted to meet up with again, which relieved Hinata immensely.

The classroom door was wide open, much like all the others Hinata had come across due to how the academy would be having classes normally after the exam ended. She had expected to be the first to arrive, but to her surprise, someone else was already inside.

Or rather, almost surprise. The crunchy, munching sounds were telling and with the school as silent as it was, they could be heard from far.

"Good morning, Chouji-kun," she said as she entered the classroom, smiling at its sole occupant who was seated in the same place she had usually seen him in the past few years.

"Oh, hey! Mornin' Hinata!"

Hinata couldn't say she knew Chouji very well, and while that normally left her nervous when interacting with people, she found the soft-spoken Akimichi to be rather easy to talk with as long as neither of his teammates were around. He wasn't pushy, intimidating or aggravating, which really helped her keep her cool while in a conversation.

"Fell outta bed early too?" he asked while offering her his bag of chips, which she politely declined.

"No, I just wake up early in general. I didn't want to be late, so…"

"I see. Well, I don't usually wake up so early, but today I did and I was too anxious to fall back asleep. So here I am, heheh."

"I-I know the feeling," Hinata admitted, taking a seat a little ways from Chouji. "I was having trouble sleeping the past couple days. Yesterday night I drank chamomile tea just to help me with that…"

"Hmm, chamomile tea… tasty stuff. It's been a while."

She giggled a bit at the dreamy face Chouji made. Though Hinata didn't exchange words with him often, most of their interactions, tended to revolve around cooking or simply food in general, which were some of Hinata's few comfort zones and made for easy conversations.

That would not be the case this time.

"I guess I'm not the only one still having second thoughts about this thing then," Chouji said, his expression growing serious.

"…I think everyone is to some extent," Hinata replied. "I-I mean, between us nine… we've haven't been genin for six months yet, and there are people who spend years trying to pass this exam."

"Yeah. Guy-sensei's team has been around for more than a full year now. Those three are definitively ready by now. But us? I just don't know…"

Hinata tried to smile at him. "A-At least… Kurenai-sensei and the others seem to believe in us," she said, though it rang unconvincingly to her own ears.

"Well, I guess you got a point," Chouji muttered in a tone not unlike her own. "Even Guy-sensei said we should be able to pass… but I just wish we could've had more time." He then shook his head. "Or at least that I had come up with this idea of extra taijutsu classes earlier."

Hinata nodded. Guy was intense, but he knew what he was doing. At least, Hinata could say she always felt a bit stronger after spending time with the energetic Jonin, if not a bit smarter when it came to melee fighting.

Chouji's words suddenly sunk in. "Wait, that was your idea?"

"Yup."

He crumpled the bag of chips and tossed it into a nearby trash can, giving Hinata his full attention.

"How much do you know about the Ino-Shika-Cho formation?"

"Er… not much," she admitted. "I-I've heard a few stories about your parents and how they worked together but… sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. That was a stupid question," Chouji laughed a bit, embarrassed. "My team is only the second generation of the formation after all. Anyways, what you do know by now is how our techniques work, right?"

Hinata nodded. After working together for the past few months she obviously was familiar with how Team 10's techniques worked individually. But when put together…

She just didn't understand what the hype was all about. Their teams had fought in spars and Team 10 had fallen easily. Embarrassingly so. If they could prepare an ambush then Hinata could see Team 10's potential, but ambushes were always a massive advantage and not something to rely on.

"And you also know what our two big weaknesses are, right? You and your team beat us after all."

While Hinata wasn't one to list people's faults to their face, Chouji was looking at her with some expectancy, perhaps because he wanted to make sure they were on the same page. So she obliged him.

"You, Shikamaru-san and Ino-san all have strong jutsu, but they are also slow and need time to set up. And, uh… you are the only one on the team who is really a close-range fighter."

Hinata lowered her head a bit, feeling her cheeks burning slightly for reasons unrelated to Chouji.

It was an odd thing, to feel bad about feeling good but… that's just how Hinata felt when remembering how easily she handled Ino every time they had sparred since graduation. The blonde had a pretty good grasp on the academy's basic taijutsu style, so much that she was the most skilled girl in the academy for their year, but now that Hinata wasn't forced to play by the same rules the dynamic between them in combat was flipped.

It was easy to blame it all on the styles. That was how Hinata felt and what she ended up saying in an attempt to comfort a very upset Ino after their last bout a couple days prior, but the response she got surprised her.

'Styles, jutsu, weapons and all those things don't do the work on their own. It was you who won the fight, Hinata! Have more pride in your own strength, girl!'

Hinata didn't get to react properly to that since Lee jumped in and started to gush about how "youthful" Ino was being… but the words stuck with her, even if she couldn't quite digest it. At least not yet.

She suddenly realized Chouji had been talking already and she missed some of it.

"—so they actually have to rely on me a lot to get the openings they need for their jutsu, even if I need big openings myself to have any real impact," he sighed. "Asuma-sensei's strength and versatility are meant to compensate for that while we're still inexperienced genin and haven't learned the jutsu that really allowed our parents to shine. But we won't have his help during the exams."

"I see… that makes a lot of sense."

"Yeah. I hadn't realized all of that by myself, but Asuma-sensei brought it up to me around a month ago. My style is always going to be slow, but that doesn't mean I can't make it faster."

Hinata nodded. Every bit of time Chouji saved was more time for Shikamaru and Ino to work around their slow-casting techniques, which in turn would protect Chouji after he was left vulnerable by his own moves.

"And that's how you two came up with the idea for the extra classes, then?"

Chouji nodded. "We brought it up to Guy-sensei, and he was the one that got the Hokage's approval for it. Since we're not supposed to have official training on Sundays after all.'

'I see. Then that means the decision to have us participate in the exams was only made around that time, then,' she thought. 'It seems I was lucky to have asked for Guy-sensei's help when I did. He might not have considered me for these extra lessons otherwise.'

Her eyes went back to Chouji, who had gotten another bag of chips from somewhere. The conversation died down because of it, and Hinata could really see how nervous Chouji was from how fast he was eating… it soon enough, it began to affect her, too.

She had brought a small book in her hip pouch to pass the time, but with Chouji's loud munching, it was proving to be a fruitless effort. She needed another way to pass the time and stave away her insecurities, and so did he.

It didn't take long for her to get an idea...

Hinata crashed on the floor, her body crumpled up from the blow to the stomach she had just endured. The unpleasant spike of pain was only momentary, and she relaxed again when it became more bearable a couple seconds later.

"Looks like I win this one!"

Chouji extended his hand to her, and Hinata gladly accepted the offer to get up.

"Y-You did… good job," she said with a little smile, using her sleeve to wipe out her slightly-damp forehead. "You deserved the win."

She wasn't completely unfamiliar with Chouji's style, but she had only fought him directly a couple times, with chakra allowed. The match-up was rather extreme thanks to that, given how Chouji was far too slow to keep up with Hinata in close quarters, but on the other hand, Hinata had no counter to his Human Bullet Tank Jutsu and was forced to rely completely on the environment whenever she screwed up and gave him the opportunity to use his technique.

Without chakra, they were much more even. Hinata's raw physical strength was only average, whereas Chouji packed a punch, on top of being sturdy. The speed difference between the two remained, however, and overwhelming him with her faster blows was her strategy.

It didn't always work, as the results of their spars attested to: with that last victory from Chouji, they were evenly matched across about a dozen rounds.

"I think I'm finally getting the hang of your moves," he commented to her. "Still not easy to keep up with that speed, but at least I can see you! I can't even say that about Lee…"

She sighed, knowing the feeling. Lee's speed was no joke. 'And Neji-nii-san has never lost to him, somehow.'

"Well, duh. That boy trains like crazy and he's been at it for more than a year now. Not even Sasuke-kun keeps up with him, what did you expect?"

Surprised, Hinata whirled around to find someone at the gym's entrance. "I-Ino-san?!"

"Hey there," the blonde greeted them with a smile and a friendly wave. "Having fun?"

"We're just sparing a bit to warm up for the exams and pass the time," Chouji explained. "It was Hinata's idea."

To Hinata's confusion, Ino seemed rather shocked by the reply. "I see… well. It's a nice idea Hinata, but I have some insider info for you two: we're probably not going to be doing any fighting today."

"…W-What?"

"Yup." Ino then crossed her arms, annoyance marring her features. "My dad forced me out of bed early, saying I wouldn't want to risk being late for this exam because a former comrade of his from T&I would be in charge of it."

At the risk of sounding stupid, Hinata dared to voice her curiosity anyway. "T&I?"

"The Torture and Interrogation Department," Chouji answered. "Ino's dad spent a long time working there before he had to take over as the Clan Head."

"And if one of my dad's old partners is in charge, it's probably not going to involve combat. Chances are it will be a mental test of some sort, like a logic or decision-making test."

"I see." Hinata frowned. She didn't know if that was a good thing or not. As insecure as she might be about fighting, at least it was where she specialized. Decisions, strategy, puzzles… those things she knew she wasn't good at, almost always following other people's lead instead of taking charge herself.

'Maybe that's a sign I shouldn't be in this exam to begin with…'

"Oh, not you too."

Hinata let out a small noise when Ino suddenly threw an arm around her shoulder and pulled her up close.

"Listen, don't worry," she said, her voice cheerful and encouraging. "Our sensei trust we can handle the exam and become chunin, so all we need to do is to believe in ourselves! And that," Ino then pointed at her teammate, "goes for you too Chouji!"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you've been off ever since Asuma-sensei said we'd be in this exam. Come on, we're childhood friends; you really think you could hide something like that from me?"

"Well… I tried," Chouji shrugged. "And I thought it worked since you've kept quiet even though you're usually so nosy."

That brought a scowl to the blonde's features. "I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure what the problem was! And I have been more supportive lately, too. Didn't you notice?"

"Er, no. Sorry."

Ino groaned, letting go of Hinata and crossing her arms. "Men. Hmph! Are Kiba and Shino this bad, Hinata?"

Not knowing how or even if she should answer, Hinata just let out an awkward, nervous laugh and looked away.

"So how did you find us anyway?" Chouji asked.

"I saw one of those," Ino motioned at his food, "in the trashcan, so I knew you had to be somewhere nearby. Then I just wandered around 'til I heard noises coming from here. I didn't understand why you two were fighting, but when I did your behavior finally made sense. All thanks to Hinata!"

Whereas Chouji seemed confused, Hinata realized Ino had seen through what she had been trying to do by inviting the Akimichi to spar with her. 'Ino-san is so sharp…!'

"Well, whatever," Chouji shrugged, apparently giving up on connecting the dots. "If there's not going to be any fighting today we better go back to our old class to wait for the others then."

Nodding with a mumbled affirmative, Hinata began to follow Chouji, however…

"Not so fast!" Ino dashed to block them off, her eyes gleaming dangerously.

"Oh no. I don't like that look in your eyes…" Chouji grumbled as he munched on his chips.

"Relax, you can go back if you want. My business is with her," Ino pointed at Hinata, who shrunk with tension now that the spotlight suddenly was on herself. "I'm not letting you go until you spill the beans about yesterday!"

"Ah, so it's just girl talk then," Chouji remarked with relief, and he kept walking.

Hinata didn't share his relief, frowning confusedly instead. "I-Ino-san? What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me," the blonde smirked. "I'm talking about your date with your knight in orange armor, what else?"

"D-D-D-Date!?"

Her cheeks burned a bright scarlet, which only got worse when Chouji actually turned around, calmly walked back to them and just watched while eating, taking an obvious interest in the upcoming discussion.

With great effort, Hinata managed to swallow down her embarrassment to give Ino a reply. "I-I… t-that's not what happened at all!"

"Really?" Ino arched an eyebrow. "You spent the whole day with Naruto and nothing happened? At all? Come on. Don't tell me forehead got me all hyped up for nothing."

"B-But it's true!"

Hinata paused to gather herself. She was going to have some words with Sakura later, but that unfortunately would have to wait.

"L-Look… there was no "date". I spent the whole day in Naruto-kun's apartment, yes, but he wasn't even there for the most part."

"He… wasn't?"

Hinata then went up to explain the idea she had had that day before her encounter with the Sand siblings. The only difference between her first plan and reality was that everyone in their little group agreed to meet up for lunch right after the exams, and so she had volunteered to cook for them all as well.

Naruto's refrigerator almost didn't fit that much food.

Her hope was that Ino would grow bored and disappointed from hearing what actually happened and leave her be—what could possibly be exciting about how she spent the whole day alone, cooking while Naruto was outside, playing around with her sister and her newest friends after all?

…While that's what happened at first, as Hinata went on Ino's excitement began to visibly build up, and the widening smile on her face only served to make Hinata wary.

It didn't prepare her for when she was done and Ino began to squeal super loudly.

"That was so sweetly adorable! How cute!"

Hinata blinked. "Eh?"

"Naruto does eat pretty badly from what I know," Chouji commented, his mouth full. "It's nice that you're looking out for him like that. I'm sure he really appreciates it."

Ino began to laugh at that, dryly. "Probably more than he realizes. Gotta say, Hinata, didn't expect you to play so dirty! I guess it's to my luck that you're not after Sasuke-kun too, huh? That kind of strategy would be pretty hard to beat."

"But… uh… s-strategy…?"

If Hinata were to claim she knew what Ino was talking about, it would be a lie. Her complete confusion was so apparent that Ino gasped when she noticed how lost her friend was.

"Oh my god, you don't even realize what you're doing?"

She hesitantly shook her head in denial, and it surprised Chouji enough that he actually stopped eating completely.

"Wait, she doesn't?" he asked Ino. "You're telling me that Hinata wasn't intentionally tryi—ow! What was that for, Ino!?"

"You oaf, she's going to stop doing it if you point it out to her!"

"That's no reason to kick me though."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a baby, I barely put any effort into it."

The conversation actually managed to leave Hinata upset.

'What are they even talking about!? Did I do something wrong or embarrassing…? But I was just cooking for him! What's the problem with that!?'

Her irritation must have shown on her face, for Ino walked up to her and began to pat her on the shoulder. "Aw, Hinata, please don't be mad at us. Look, just keep doing what you're doing, okay? You have my support!

"…Thank you?"

To Hinata's further confusion, Ino giggled. "Now let's go back, I'm sure at least a few other people must have arrived by now."

The blonde then turned tail and exited the room, with Chouji right at her heels. Sighing, Hinata slowly began to follow them.

"Just keep doing what I'm doing… that's so easy to say," she muttered lowly to herself. "I don't even know what I'm doing most of the time."

With another sigh, Hinata decided that thinking about it wasn't going to yield any results and left the gym entirely, quietly closing the doors on her way out.

True to Ino's words, Sakura and Shino had arrived already and were actually considering to go after them, which Shino's tracking abilities allowed them to. Time passed and as more people joined them into conversation, Hinata began to forget her worries about the upcoming trials-In no small part thanks to Ino shifting the conversation away from the topic whenever it came up, which Hinata made a mental note to thank her for later.

Of course, there was nothing Hinata could do to stop her fears from creeping up on her again when their time was up and they had to head to the exam room. However, even after Kiba and Naruto opened the door and allowed her to see so many dangerous and intimidating people glaring at their group, she still felt much lighter and more confident than when she had woken up.

Hinata took a deep breath and followed everyone into room 301…

Shikamaru Nara was baffled.

'Am I really the only one that finds this guy incredibly suspicious…?'

By "this guy", Shikamaru was referring to one Kabuto Yakushi, a fellow genin of the leaf. Or… at least that was what Kabuto himself claimed. Shikamaru had his doubts.

It all began right after they entered the exam room—or the true exam room anyway, if the other room on the first floor was the trap he imagined it to be. Thanks to two troublesome blonds, the group ended up drawing everybody's attention… a horrible thing when all in their group were obvious fresh genin. Or rather, easy targets for the more experienced shinobi in the room.

That was when Kabuto had approached them. At first there was nothing off about him, as one of the older Leaf genin it wasn't unthinkable that he would try to look out for the younger ones, given Konoha's philosophies. He was even nice enough to share some information about the exams in general, and that's what began to tip Shikamaru off.

He was being too nice, which could be a set up for a betrayal further into the exams. It was only natural for Shikamaru to be a little wary of that kind of behavior coming from an effective enemy ninja, but then Kabuto did something that rang out all sorts of alarm bells in his mind.

Or rather, he spoke of something. Nobody seemed to have pegged it as odd since he had participated in various Chunin Exams already… but how did his "Info-ninja cards" have the exact numbers for every village's entrants, or why? How did Kabuto have info on himself and the other rookies—which he had admitted to them—if they had never been in a Chunin Exam before?

Much more worryingly was when Naruto and Sasuke inquired about a genin from Suna. Kabuto knowing the number and rank of Gaara's completed missions was already ridiculous, but the extra detail about how he had never been wounded in any mission?

How did a mere genin stumble upon that information!?

Too many things didn't add up.

'…I better keep an eye on him if we actually cross paths during the exam,' Shikamaru thought, fighting to keep his usual bored expression lest he risk Kabuto catching on to his suspicious. Looking at his fellow genin instead, he could clearly see none of them had any second thoughts about Kabuto.

Except, perhaps, Shino. The Aburame had proven to be rather sharp and Shikamaru couldn't read him at all due to his outfit, but he felt that Shino would have voiced his suspicions immediately if he had any.

He sighed, pinching his nose. 'Man. Troublesome doesn't even begin to describe this… I should've stayed in bed today.'

To further improve his mood, Kabuto fell to the same trap he warned their group about. His fancy ninja cards ended up drawing attention, and one off-hand comment from earlier about the Hidden Sound Village—which Shikamaru had never even heard about—led to that village's only genin team to retaliate, their pride wounded.

It was a curious event; Shikamaru couldn't figure out for sure what happened to Kabuto. He dodged the mummy-like Sound genin's punch without much difficulty, but the attack hit Kabuto anyway, leaving the older genin doubled over on the floor and coughing blood.

Shikamaru didn't have time to linger on that however, as the exam proctor thankfully showed up before things could escalate, flanked by about a dozen subordinates.

Unfortunately that also meant the test was going to start. 'Ugh… what a drag…'

The proctor's lack of explanations followed up by a written test that was clearly beyond what little knowledge he retained from the academy really made his mood plummet. But sometimes things get worse before they get better, and Shikamaru was able to close his eyes and relax once he realized what the test was all about and how he was going to pass it…

By doing absolutely nothing.

Just the way he liked it.

...Of course, he could have done without a certain blond troublemaker screaming at the proctor near the end of the test—did he have any common sense!?—but at least Shikamaru knew that he'd be out of that hellhole soon, hopefully for the last time, and would finally be able to rest properly.

Except that when freedom finally came, he realized he had forgotten that everyone had agreed to have lunch together right afterwards, which would delay his dreams of a comfy bed and a soft pillow by a good 3 extra hours.

He sighed.

At least the food was good and he could still watch the clouds, even if some of the louder people in the group disrupted his peace every now and then...

When Naruto once again saw Hinata bring her wet hands to her eyes to rub them, he frowned. That was the fifth time in less than ten minutes.

"Did you get soap in your eyes or something, Hinata…?"

"Uh?" She turned to Naruto. "O-Oh, no, no… my eyes are just a bit sensitive from sustaining the Byakugan for so long during the test earlier…"

Having answered Naruto's question, she passed the mug she had been washing to him. He, in turn, began to dry it, and then placed it inside one of his kitchen's cabinets where it belonged.

"You're going to be alright for the second test tomorrow?"

"Of course," she smiled at him. "It's nothing an eye drop and some sleep won't fix… b-but thank you. For being concerned, I mean…"

Her words made him frown as a memory struck him.

"Thank you… huh? Wait. Did I actually thank you yet?"

Hinata handed him a clean bowl with a slight frown. "Me?"

"Yeah!" When her expression didn't change, Naruto arched an eyebrow. "You know, for the help during that first test…? Don't tell me you forgot it too."

"Oh."

…Naruto didn't know what Hinata was thinking, but judging from her troubled expression, he knew he didn't like it. She had been like that ever since the exam, and it was weird even for Hinata's standard of weirdness.

Unfortunately, he didn't know what her problem was and didn't have a good joke in mind to lighten the mood… but then he had an idea.

A big part of the test they took had been about information gathering, and he failed spectacularly at that. Perhaps he should get Hinata to talk a little before anything else, to maybe redeem himself? Given her skittish personality he couldn't imagine a direct confrontation would work out either.

"So… you cheated today, huh? How exactly did you go about it?"

Her cheeks reddened a little. "…I just copied Sakura's answers."

"Pfft… hahaha! Of course! Sakura-chan's really good when it comes to that useless academic shit," Naruto shook his head. "I thought you'd have to look at a lot of people's tests until you figured out which people actually had it right, but wow, that's way smarter. Man, that test was a breeze for you then."

"Well, copying isn't hard. Just time-consuming."

Naruto paused. He remembered when Hinata had offered to cheat, and she didn't seem to have written that much on her test.

Pressing that point yielded a most interesting answer.

"Normal objects don't have chakra networks, so they appear really dark to the Byakugan. But… nature itself has chakra, and all objects retain a very small amount of it depending on what substance they are made of, which lets us Hyuuga identify what is what even if it's all black-ish. Paper and graffiti are particularly hard to distinguish from one another, so I had to focus a lot to copy what I needed to. Still… I would have to wait for Sakura to figure out and write down her answers regardless."

Hinata then handed him a cup. Naruto dried it and placed it on the table, together with the plates and such that belonged to Hinata rather than himself and that she'd be taking back to her home later.

"I… the part I actually had difficulty," she continued, her voice smaller, "was deciding to cheat in the first place."

Naruto didn't need to question why. "Yeah, that jerk proctor really put the pressure on us… ugh," he groaned. 'As if feeling Sasuke and Sakura glaring at me from behind wasn't enough.'

He thought a little more about Hinata's words and found something curious. "Wait. That was the hardest part for you? What about the tenth question?"

"…"

"…"

…The conversation halted completely.

Hinata kept her head low as she handled the last few dishes, and after two minutes of silent work, Naruto felt confident that he had hit the nail on the head, by accident.

"You thought about giving up, huh…?

His line of attack was the obvious one. He knew Hinata enough by then to tell she was the kind of person to feel remorse just for considering such a thing.

"I didn't. Not even for a second."

The only reason her bold, blunt reply didn't make Naruto's chin crash on the floor was that Hinata finally met his gaze; her eyes red and with wet trails falling from them—trails that were not water.

"I… I-I was just worried about you! Your test was blank, we only had fifteen minutes left and, and… if you got the question wrong then you'd never be able to make your dream come true, and… I couldn't think of any other way to help you! I-I was right beside you! And I couldn't do anything!"

Naruto's brain was on red alert. 'Oh shit, oh shit! Shit! What did I do? What do I do!?'

Without thinking, he then rushed to his refrigerator and took out a bottle of water. With trembling hands, he poured the liquid into one of Hinata's cups and gave it to her. "H-Here! Drink this, okay?"

The girl stumbled over her words before she simply did as she was told, leaving Naruto to watch her gulp the cold water down. She then headed over to the sink to wash the cup again after wiping her face on her sleeve.

On cue, he was there to dry the cup when she was done.

"I'm sorry… I… I lost control for a moment there," she said, her shoulders sagging and her eyes not meeting his even. "This is just so frustrating…"

Naruto resigned to helping her with the dishes like he had been doing. He wasn't sure how to proceed. Hinata had mentioned a "debt" she owed him a few times so Naruto wouldn't be surprised if that was all that was bothering Hinata.

However… they both passed the first test. The other outcome didn't matter anymore.

'There's gotta be something else to this,' he realized. And since he had been the one stupid enough to prod Hinata needlessly, he felt guilty about just leaving her be. He made her cry, for heaven's sake! 'Never mind that if Sakura-chan ever hears about this, I'm deader than dead.'

He then remembered the other part of Ibiki's test. The risk of being caught cheating or failing the tenth question… and the risk Hinata took in her attempt to help him.

Regardless of how Hinata felt about whatever debt she thought she had with him, he knew he owed her one for her selflessness during the exam. Yet that didn't help him get started, and he frowned. Beating around the bush had never been his style, had it?

But he was too slow, and Hinata took the matter into her own hands.

"It's… not just that," she said, her volume barely loud enough for him to hear the words. "Naruto-kun, did you… did you think, about how Sakura and Sasuke-kun would react if you were caught, or… if you f-failed?"

He opened his mouth, and then closed it. His first instinct was to deny it, but what was the point? Despite being beside Hinata at the time—of all people it just had to be her, he thought with dismay—he had made no effort to hide his panic during the test. He attempted to act cool when she had offered help, but the chances of her not seeing through that were negligible.

His expression settled back into a frown. "Well, of course I did. That was the whole point of us taking the test as a team after all. To raise the stakes. It's why you didn't cheat straight away, isn't it?"

She gulped noticeably, answering his question with a nod. "…Yes. I thought of Shino-kun and Kiba-kun at the time." She passed a small pot to him. "But… but when I tried to help you… and when the proctor was explaining the tenth question…"

Hinata trailed off into silence then, but Naruto didn't need an explanation. Her outburst earlier was enough for him to connect the dots.

'Wow… she doesn't look like it, but she's pretty impulsive. I'm not one to talk but still.'

At least, she finally gave him something to work with.

"So… you feel like you betrayed them."

Hinata flinched at that heavy word, but didn't deny it.

He almost sighed with relief then—he knew how the handle the situation now.

"I'm not sure you noticed, but Sakura-chan pulled me aside to talk right after lunch."

"Huh…? I… I noticed," she mumbled.

"You know, she wanted to apologize to me." Without realizing, Naruto smiled. "She said she almost gave up during the test, because of me. She thought I would be too prideful and stubborn to do it… and she didn't want me to lose my dream, and that if I wouldn't give up then she would. Heh."

To his slight surprise, Hinata wore a small smile too. "I'm glad… after all this time you and Sakura have become closer like this."

"Yup! Who knows, I might actually get her to accept going out with me one of these days, haha!"

Mid-laughter, he almost didn't notice the moment where Hinata's smile faltered. She forced back her lips into a thin line, a neutral expression, and diverted her gaze. Not knowing what to make of that, Naruto chose to continue instead.

"But you see, my point is… Sakura-chan felt bad about something, so she talked it out with me. I'm kinda new to this "friends" thing, especially with girls, but I dunno. Maybe you should try to talk with Shino and Kiba too? If it's bothering you that much you're going to be on the edge around them tomorrow during the exam. That's no good."

It took a while for Hinata to give him an answer, and Naruto had to wonder how she could be so worried about this. Kiba's loyalty to his friends made it unlikely he'd be angry over something like that, and Shino didn't seem the type to bother much with such what-ifs. He was too objective and logical for that.

"Do you… think that could work?" she said, passing him a knife—the last thing that they had to wash.

He decided to nudge her along. "If it helps, I don't think they'll be mad. You know them better than me though… but maybe you're overthinking it?"

"…Maybe?" She sighed. "Hanabi tells me that a lot."

Naruto chuckled at that. Hanabi was a sassy little thing and he liked the time he spent with her and "Team Konohamaru" the day before. He could totally picture her saying that to Hinata, looking bored as her older sibling fretted over trivial matters.

"Well, she might be on to something! I mean, come on… don't you think they care more about how Team 8 passed the test to begin with? I can't speak for them, but that's how I felt about Sakura-chan's apology. Why be mad at her over it when we didn't even fail, right?"

Hinata once again kept him in suspense, busy packing her things back into her backpack. She shot him a few glances while doing so, and every time she became startled and looked away when realizing he was watching her closely.

When she was finally done, she turned to him with her head a bit lowered. But it was only a few seconds later, when she found the courage to meet his gaze head-on, that she spoke up.

"W-What about… me?"

"What about you?" he frowned.

"I mean… during the test. I tried to help you, but in the end… I didn't accomplish anything."

"…You're asking if I'm angry at you? What?" he began to laugh, incredulous. "There's no way I'd let you come to my place if you weren't in my good books, Hinata!"

Her cheeks reddened, making her pale complexion resemble a tomato's skin.

"And, like, I just thanked you for trying to help me, remember?"

Hinata squirmed a little, still visibly embarrassed. "I… no. I-I just… didn't know if you truly meant that."

"Hinata, I'd never lie about something like that."

Her words had stung, taking away the humor from Naruto's tone. However, when he realized this she wasn't doubting him as much as she was doubting herself at that moment, he forced it back into his voice.

"C'mon, have a little faith in your future Hokage!"

"…Srnk!"

Defying all his expectations… Hinata broke into laughter.

It got to a point where she needed to hold on to his chair just to keep her balance, and Naruto came dangerously close to giving up on her right there and then.

He just couldn't understand what made the girl tick.

'At least she keeps on my toes I guess...? It's better than having her cry because I said something stupid anyway,' he decided. 'Way better.'

"I-I'm sorry," Hinata tried to say mid-laugh. "It's just… the proctor… what you said to him at the end…!"

Naruto paled when he managed to work through her messy explanation. "Holy shit… I can't believe I did something like that!"

In his anger over the unfairness of Ibiki's tenth question, Naruto had done the unthinkable after declaring he was not going to give up no matter what:

'Even if you kick me out, I'm still going to work hard and become Hokage someday! And then I'm totally going to fire your ass!'

He began to laugh along with Hinata. As if the odds hadn't been stacked against him, he said something that outrageous right to Ibiki's face, without any hesitation.

And lived to tell the tale.

"Oh man... that could have backfired so badly! He totally could've kicked me out for insur… insub… ordination? Is that the word?"

"Yes!" Hinata said, wiping a tear from her eye. "Insubordination," she repeated, finally calming down.

"Thanks. But seriously, wow... and I still passed the test after that one, somehow."

"…Of course you did."

"Huh?"

Hinata smiled at him, in a gentle way that made him feel silly somehow.

"Yes, you did challenge his authority. But not only you answered the tenth question correctly, you also inspired everyone to continue fighting. I think that's a really strong quality for a leader to have. Be they a chunin in charge of a squad, or even… a Hokage, leading a village. I… I saw that in you, and maybe he did as well."

His cheeks began to burn up. That someone could believe in him and in his dream so earnestly… it was still something Naruto was struggling to deal with, leaving him at a loss for words.

Luckily, Hinata chose that moment to sling her backpack over her shoulders and put their conversation to an end.

"Naruto-kun, I think I'll be going now."

"Oh. Sure, let me take you home ag—"

"Please," she interrupted him. "It's okay. We've had a stressing day and tomorrow's not going to be different… you should stay here and rest."

He frowned. "Your place is kinda far, but it's not that far."

"Not for me, but you'll have to walk back here if you take me home," she countered. "We'll have to wake up very early tomorrow, too, so it's better if you stay."

Sensing that she had made up her mind and that his fight was lost before it could even begin, he relented. "Well, alright. If you insist."

It's not like he understood why Sakura or Iruka felt that kind of thing was so important anyway.

The pair headed to his apartment's entrance, and Naruto was just about to open the door when Hinata spoke up.

"Um, Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"Please don't forget to set up your alarm for tomorrow…"

"Ah! Good point! Wait a sec, I'm gonna do that right now!"

He abandoned her and barged into his bedroom. "Is 4 A.M good enough?"

"Yes!"

"Okay…" he said as he fiddled with the alarm.

Walking back to Hinata moments later, he gave her a cheeky, embarrassed smile. "Can't afford to arrive late for that one."

She giggled. "You remember the gate you have to take tomorrow?"

"The Southern gate! Don't worry, I won't "get lost on the road of life" or something," he said, earning a little giggle from Hinata. "I have the map inside my pouch already too."

He then opened the door. "So, see you tomorrow?"

"Yes." She walked out and turned around. "And… I-I'm sorry for bothering you with my problems earlier…"

"No worries! Just glad I could help you out!"

His smile was wide and blinding, and while hers was much smaller it was no less radiant.

"Then… thank you, Naruto-kun! A-And, good luck tomorrow!"

Waving goodbye, she dashed away before he could say another word. He couldn't help but notice she had been blushing a little before fleeing…

He shook his head as a chuckle escaped him. "What a weirdo…"

Locking his door up, Naruto headed back to his bedroom, this time without any rush. He dug his hand into his hip pouch and took out a little paper folding. It was a map, showing a path from the village to the second exam's site: Training Ground 67.

He unfolded it and threw himself on his completely unmade bed.

"Man… that crazy proctor lady wasn't kidding when she said it's not close to the village. Why the hell would anyone build a training ground so far away?"

He stared at the map for a while longer before shoving it back inside his pouch.

At the very least, Naruto felt confident he would perform better than in the last exam. The proctor was "kind" enough to warn everyone that if whoever didn't know how to walk on walls was better off not showing up at all.

Thankfully, Kakashi had already taught him that.

"Still… there's no way a five-day test will be just about climbing walls... bah! Whatever. Who cares? I'm going to pass this exam anyway!"

He made a hand sign, sending a clone away to ask the building landlady to take care of his plants again, and decided to take a nap.

Who knew when he'd get to sleep on a proper bed again after all?

A/N

And there we go.

I apologize greatly for not making changes to the first exam. I tried hard to think of something else these past months, but I either was left with an exam that had no big purpose for testing a would-be chunin, or something that was mechanically much, MUCH more suited for a video game and that I was having problems translating into something workable in a written form.

But since no big changes were made, I decided to skip things around and approach the events from a different angle. That resulted in more Naruhina, so yay! I actually wasted a week writing out a scene on Hinata's POV mid-exams, but then I got the NH idea and realized it was much, much better. That scene was destroyed immediately after that realization.

Whether it's about the NH moment, the Hinata/Chouji/Ino scene or Shikamaru being super wary of Kabuto (the guy is SUPER suspicious), I hope you guys enjoyed the scene! And if that's the case, please leave a review! We didn't break the 500s last time but surely that's happening now!

That part about Naruto telling Ibiki that if he failed he'd go from genin to Hokage and fire his ass? I thought it was canon when I wrote it down, but upon rewatching the scene I realized it wasn't. Thanks to reviewers Maximun-Over Saiyan and AdrianVnz, I discovered the inspiration came from S'TarKan's legendary Team 8. Which was a rather surprising revelation for me, as I have been intentionally avoiding to re-read that fic for years now. It might not hold up to my higher standards and I don't want to ruin one of my old favs like I did with others before.

Like I said before, there is no new revised chapter between this update and the last. But before the next chapter, I'll be revising Chapter 5. That one promises to be troublesome as hell, so chances are this is the last chapter of the year. Especially with Smash Ultimate coming in two weeks...

Guest Review Answers! (However brief)

Guests from chapter 22: Thanks for the kind words! And specifically to the guest from September 13th, yeah. Flashback Episode indeed!

Guest from chapter 23: Thank you very much!