Author's Note: I do not own Naruto.
It was bright and early the next morning when the Hyuga Heiress found herself walking towards the academy classroom for her very last time. As she walked ever so slowly through nearly empty hallways, she kept her head down, and thought long and hard about Naruto. She was so happy to see him yesterday, and she knew that without him there would have been no way for her to gain the confidence she needed to pass the exams. A bright red blush adorned her face as she silently wondered if perhaps Naruto was thinking about her as well. That thought left her mind as quickly as it had entered. She knew that Naruto wouldn't be thinking about her, especially considering that they had not seen each other for three years, and it wasn't like he had left the academy on good terms with any of them.
After several minutes of navigating the hallways, she made it to the classroom and sat in the back by herself once again. She sat there wondering about several different things. First off, she wanted to know who her sensei would be. She desperately hoped that it would be the one Jounin Sensei that she knew—Kurenai. Secondly, she wondered if her teammates would like her and if she would be able to be strong for them. The third and final thing she thought about was how much she wanted to spend time with one Naruto Uzumaki.
It wasn't long before Hinata was pulled from her thoughts by students quickly entering the academy to take their seats before Iruka-Sensei came in to announce the new genin teams. A few moments later the classroom went silent as Iruka-Sensei walked in followed closely by several people. She could only assume that these were the Jounin Sensei that they would be assigned to. Most of the Sensei were people that she had seen around the village but didn't know who they were. As a matter of fact, there were only two people in the line up that she knew. First, was obviously Kurenai. It was the second one however that caught her, and the rest of the classes, attention. At the very end of the line of Jounin was none other than her blonde-haired dream boy, Naruto Uzumaki.
'Why is he here?' Hinata wondered. 'I saw that he had a chunin vest on yesterday. Could he possibly be a Jounin already? If so, I'm sorry Kurenai-Sensei, but I really want him to teach me. Please let it be true.'
During the few seconds that it took Hinata to process these thoughts the class had gone from a tense silence to a roaring room of confusion.
Most of the things being yelled throughout the classroom by the students were along the lines of, "What the hell are you doing here, Naruto!?" or "I thought you quit you dead last loser!" or "Why do you have a chunin vest on!? Is this some kind of joke!?"
After several intense moments of this Iruka decided that enough was enough. Iruka had always felt bad that he had been unable to do more for the boy while he was in the academy, but throughout the few years that Naruto had been gone the two had kept in touch. Iruka was relieved to learn that Naruto held no ill will towards him, and actually the boy looked up to Iruka like an older brother.
"Shut up and sit down!" Iruka shouted at the top of his lungs. The room went silent faster than Naruto could inhale a single bowl of Ichiraku Ramen.
In a much lower and more civilized tone Iruka spoke, "Now, class it may seem hard to believe but Naruto here actually received some specialized training after he left. It took him about six months after he left to become a genin, another 6 months to become a chunin, and about a year after that he may Jounin. I can assure you that Naruto is completely qualified to teach anyone here. If you doubt me then you are more than welcome to speak with the Hokage who was the one that chose Naruto for this position. Now are there any other outbursts you'd like to make, or can I move forward with the team assignments?"
Instantly the whole classrooms attention was taken by one Sasuke Uchiha who stood up rather quickly and in a loud and menacing voice while staring directly into Naruto's unwavering gaze stated, "If he is so great, then he wouldn't mind proving it to me in a fight, now would he?"
"Sasuke…" Iruka started but never finished.
"Its okay Iruka-Sensei." Naruto interrupted without letting his eyes leave the Uchiha. "Sasuke, as of today you are a genin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and whether you like it or not I am a Jounin of this same village. We are comrades, and at times we will both have to go into battle knowing that the other has their back. As such we should both be above such a petty contest of strength. However, I know that you have always had a pride issue, so if you really want to fight, and Iruka-Sensei and your new Jounin Sensei approves I have no problem with a friendly little spar after the teams are announced."
"Unless you are scared, I demand a fight, dobe." Sasuke spat out.
"Very well." Naruto said before turning his attention to Iruka-Sensei and a man with a mask on and his leaf headband covering his left eye. "Iruka-Sensei, Kakashi-Sensei would you approve a friendly spar between Sasuke and I after this meeting is finished?"
Kakashi eyed Naruto for a moment before speaking. "Now Naruto you ruined the surprise of who Sasuke's Sensei will be. But I see no problem with you sparring after this. What do you say Iruka?"
Iruka just nodded in agreement before speaking. "Now that is settled, we can move on to more pressing matters."
It was at that moment that Iruka went on about how proud he was of his students, and how important being a ninja is, and so forth. After what seemed like an eternity Iruka began the team assignments. He announced several teams before reaching Kakashi's team.
"Team 7 will consist of Sasuke Uchiha, Neo Fu, and Sakura Haruno."
Sakura immediately jumped and shouted for joy finding out that her precious Sasuke-Kun would be on her team. After being silenced by Iruka the team assignments continued.
"Obviously Team 7 your Sensei will be Kakashi Hatake. Team 8 will have Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Sai. Your Sensei will be Kurenai. Team 10 will have Ino Yamanka, Choji Akamichi, and Akira Sakai. Your Sensei will be Anko Mitarashi. Finally, Team 11 will have Hinata Hyuga and Shikamaru Nara. Your Sensei will be Naruto Uzumaki."
Hinata's eyes went wide when she learned who her Sensei would be. She stared at him for several seconds before their eyes made contact. She immediately realized what she was doing and began to blush profusely. Naruto then gave her a giant smile and a wink. This only served to make her blush even harder.
'I can't believe that I get Naruto-kun to be my Sensei! I am so excited! This must have been what he meant when he promised me he'd help me as long as I passed. But what if he realizes that I'm weak and a lost cause.' This thought immediately shut down her excitement and allowed despair to grip at her heart. She could not allow this to happen. She had waited three long years to see him again, and she was not going to allow her self esteem and weakness to stop her from impressing her Naruto-kun.
Shikamaru on the other hand was quite confused by what was going on. He thought for sure that he would be in the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio in order to copy their parents' legendary squad. Plus, who had ever heard of a genin squad of just two. He could not seem to understand how this happened. But before he could delve to deep into this strange new situation a single thought ran through his mind causing him to give up.
'How troublesome.'
Both Hinata and Shikamaru were awakened from their thoughts by Naruto calling out to them.
"Hinata, Shikamaru! Let's go to the sparing circle in the back of the academy. I need to spar with Sasuke before we get things rolling with our new squad. Sorry, about the distraction. After this I promise my focus will only be on you."
With that everyone began to exit the room. All of the genin were begging their new Sensei to allow them to stay and watch the match. After much pleading everyone decided to head out back to see how the match would go.
Through it all one Hinata Hyuga remained in the back glued to her seat with the deepest red blush on her face as she thought, 'Naruto-kun said he will be focused on me. On me! Oh my gosh oh my gosh! I can't believe he is going to be paying attention to me!' After a few moments of these thoughts the excitement of the day caught up to her and she promptly passed out.