Note: I do not own Naruto.

Note: Kinda shafted ya on the last chapter, so I made this one extra long and extra fresh.

"Hey, that's weird, Hey Hinata they forgot to put your last name up there." Naruto said, turning his head to Hinata to find her with quivering eyes. He also discovered that most of the leaf villagers around him were dead silent.

"Hinata….you have to go down for your match." Kurenai said.

"Hai sensei." Hinata said as she jumped down.

"OK, did I miss something?" Naruto asked Kurenai.

Kurenai remained silent. After the awkward moment, Naruto focused his attention to the floor. Hinata stood face to face with the female Fire nin she had encountered in the Forest of Death, Satsuke Ide.

" What are the odds, huh kid?" Satskue said.

Hinata nodded her head.

" The advantage you had last time is now gone. Take a look around, not a drop of water in sight." Satsuke continued. " But what do ya know…." She then formed two fireballs in her hands. "….my fire jutsu's still here."

"Come On Hinata! Win This Thing!" Naruto shouted from above.

"Begin." Said the Proctor.

Hinata got into an unfamiliar stance.

" What is that?" Neji thought.

" I hope Hinata can pull it off." Kiba said.

" She's gonna win. I know it." Naruto said.

"You sure?" Kiba asked.

" Totally, I wasn't kidding when I said I hope I didn't have to fight her earlier, the Hinata you remember from last year and the Hinata you're seeing now…..can't even be compared." Naruto said.

Kiba looked stunned.

Back to the floor…..

Satsuke unleashed two fire serpents on Hinata. Hinata ran to dodge them. With the serpents hot on her tail, Hinata ran up the hand gesture monument and jumped off, landing on her feet behind Satsuke. Hinata lunged in and struck the left side of Satsuke's back. Satsuke slid back to avoid any further strikes. Satsuke made a series of hand gestures and once again unleashed a small stampede of flaming horses. They charged Hinata at full speed. Hinata again got into her unfamiliar stance. The stampede then plowed through her.

"Hinata!" Ino shouted.

A small bead of sweat appeared going down Naruto's cheek. As the stampede cleared amazingly enough, Hinata was barely affected by the attack. This,with the exception of Naruto, shocked everyone, especially Neji.

" How did she do that? I saw the attack hit her dead on." Neji said to himself. He then activated his Byakugan to watch Hinata.

This attack did not leave Hinata completely unscathed, as it was seen that her left arm had been slightly burned with the cuff of the sleeve incinerated.

"What the hell?" Satsuke said.

Hinata then ran straight towards her opponent, Satsuke threw a handful of shuriken, but as they were about to hit Hinata she faded away and somehow slid right behind Satsuke. Hinata then began to display her new and improved form. She started by laying a dozen palm strikes against Satsuke, then Hinata twirled around to attack her from the sides. One major palm strike sent Satsuke several feet, the damage was so severe it forced Satsuke to take a knee while Hinata got back into her stance, waiting for her opponent to make a move.

"That is not the Hyuuga stance, that's something else." Neji thought.

Satsuke while breathing heavily, rose back to her feet and performed a series of hand gestures. The dreaded Dragon of Fire had once again arisen by her command. This time Hinata's situation was different. She could not just out run it like she did in the forest because she was now in a far more confined space. Satsuke sensing hesitation in Hinata forced the dragon down on Hinata, engulfing the stadium in flames. When Satsuke cleared the fire she saw that Hinata was gone.

"What? Where'd she go?" Satsuke said.

Suddenly, there was a crackling under the tile behind Satsuke. Hinata burst from the ground and struck Satsuke's charka pool.

" Man no way! That's the same move Naruto pulled on Neji last exam!" Kiba said almost laughing.

"I must finish this now." Hinata thought.

(Note: If you have played clash of ninja 2, you should know this move Hinata does, it's her finisher in the game.)

Hinata , using a two palm strike hit Satsuke, she then spun to her side striking her with the same attack. Again she spun and struck her in the back, and then spun to strike her on her other side. Hinata then spun back to the front and gathered a large amount of chakra.

"Take this." Hinata said.

She then blasted a large amount of chakra right through Satsuke knocking her back several feet. Satsuke still seemed to be breathing but knocked out. The Proctor knelt down to inspect her, then stood back up.

"The winner of this match, is Hinata." The Proctor said.

Hinata gave a huge sigh of relief.

She then looked up to see her friends were cheering.

"You totally nailed it Hinata!" Naruto said.

" Way to go!" Shouted Sakura.

Other cheers were coming from her friends and this made Hinata smile, but blush fiercely. As the medic nins came to tend to Satsuke, one came to inspect Hinata's arm.

" You had better get to the ward yourself to get that burn taken care of." Said the medic nin.

Hinata nodded. And went with the medical team.

" I'll come see you later Hinata!" Naruto said.

Hinata nodded while smiling.

"Guess I'll have to take our village to the tournament." The short Fire nin said.

" Now for the next match." The Proctor said.

The names sped through the board.

Yoshitomi Okano

Vs.

Shinji Haketa

As the Rain and Mist ninja met at the platform, Naruto turned to Kurenai.

" Hey Kurenai- sensei! What was everyone so quiet about when I brought up the thing with Hinata's name!" Naruto said.

Kurenai looked to Kakashi and nodded.

" Naruto, come with me, I'd like to talk to you for a moment." Kurenai said.

Naruto had a puzzled look on his face but followed her. They went to a more secluded area of the balcony.

" Naruto, there's a reason Hinata's last name Hyuuga did not appear on the Board." Kurenai said.

Naruto looked at her silently.

" Because she no longer bears it." She continued.

" What? What do you mean?" Naruto said.

" Do you remember, before you both went off on your training that day we were looking for Hinata." She said.

Naruto thought back.

((((((((((((((Flashback))))))))))))))

Naruto was at his favorite ramen stand, chowing down.

" Naruto!" Ino shouted from outside the stand.

Naruto quickly lifted up the flaps of the stand.

"What's wrong!" Naruto said concerned.

" Hinata's gone! Nobody can find her!" she said.

" What?" Naruto said slamming his money on the table and running off.

Most of the rookie nine and their senseis we were all looking allover town.

" Why is she gone?" Naruto asked Chouji.

" All I know is that Kurenai-sensei said she was nowhere to be found." Chouji said.

" I'll take the east part of town!" Naruto said. He then multiplied into a couple dozen clones to advance his search. Naruto was deathly concerned. He prayed that he would find her soon. Minutes turned into hours, and where as some of the ninja thought about returning to the Hokage's quarters and letting the ANBU find her, Naruto continued to search far and wide looking for Hinata. He decided to look in the more mountainous regions where nobody thought to look. Naruto kept looking until he came to small forest area in the mountains. With his fox-like hearing he heard a few whimpers coming from a corner of a boulder. As he came to inspect it there he found Hinata, sitting down with her face buried in her arms crying. Hinata looked up to see Naruto.

" N-Naruto…" Hinata said.

" Hinata, what are you doing all the way up here? Everybody's been looking for you." Naruto said.

He then noticed Hinata had tears in her eyes. Naruto gently knelt by her and put his hands on her shoulders.

" Hinata…what happened….why are you crying?" Naruto said concerned.

" It's….nothing." Hinata said, not wanting to burden Naruto with her problems.

" Damn it! Don't tell me nothing, people don't just cry for no reason!" Naruto said, upset that Hinata won't let him help her.

The reaction just drove Hinata to again bury her face in her arms. Naruto cursed himself for reacting in such a way.

" I'm sorry Hinata, I shouldn't have said it like that. It's just…. You're one of the people I care about and to see you like this……I just want to help." Naruto said.

The corner of Hinata's eye escaped her sleeve looking at Naruto. Naruto sat down beside her.

" OK, Hinata, you don't have to tell me what's wrong, but I want to do anything I can that would help you right now." Naruto said.

Hinata not being able to hold it in anymore, buried her face into Naruto's chest, putting her arms around his back and grabbing his jacket. Her crying began to intensify into heavy sobs as she cried her heart out. Naruto was taken back by this, this was no small problem, Hinata's tears were of utter devastation. Naruto had never seen anyone cry so hard in his life. Naruto put his hands around Hinata and gently rubbed her back.

"It's OK Hinata, I'm here for you, go ahead and let it out." He said.

The scene of Hinata's crying nearly drove Naruto to shed a tear for her, and he didn't even know why she was crying. The scene lasted for nearly an hour. Naruto knew they should get back soon before everyone would worry. After Hinata stopped crying she came to the realization of exactly whom was holding her. Hinata turned 3 shades of red.

" Come on Hinata, I'll take you back to the Hokage's office." Naruto said helping her up.

Hinata's cheeks and eyes were tinged red from her hard tears. Naruto escorted her back to the village with her leaning against him. The door opened in the Hokage's office and Naruto entered with Hinata by his side. Kurenai darted towards Hinata hugging her tightly..

" Oh Hinata! Are you OK?" Kurenai asked.

Hinata looking down at the floor nodded. " I'm s-sorry for making everyone worry." She said.

" All that's important Hinata is that you're OK." Kurenai said.

Kurenai motioned her head to the Hokage and Tsunade, The Hokage gave the nod for them to go.

" Come on Hinata, let's go." Kurenai said.

Hinata complied. Kurenai turned to Naruto.

" Thank you so much Naruto." Kurenai said.

Naruto nodded, not taking his focus off Hinata.

" Th-thank you Naruto." Hinata said.

Naruto bowed to her which shocked everyone because such a gesture is usually not in Naruto's nature.

" Good night Hinata."

Kurenai closed the door behind them. All Naruto could think about was Hinata's devastating crying. This filled him with rage. He had known Hinata for many years, since that time Hinata had never been anything but kind, polite and sweet towards everyone and not to mention smart and hard working. Naruto couldn't figure out who on Earth would want to make Hinata cry like that. Naruto's eyes focused on the Hokage who he was sure knew something.

" All Right! Out With It! Who Made Hinata Cry Like This!" Naruto shouted pointing his finger at the Hokage.

" Naruto, you don't need to know that right now. If I tell you it will just enrage you and then you'll go ballistic. I know you well enough by now." Sarutobi said.

Naruto growled, but he knew the Hokage was right. If he told Naruto who it was, Naruto would no doubt go tear his head off. But as far as Naruto knew the only people he knew even had a problem with Hinata was her family. But for her sake he won't do anything until he knows for sure.

" Naruto, you should go home for now, I must discuss something with you tomorrow concerning both you and Hinata." Sarutobi said. (concerns his year of training to come.)

Naruto complied.

(((((((((((End Flashback))))))))))

" Naruto, Hinata's father disowned her that day." Kurenai said.

" What? Why?" Naruto demanded.

" It concerned her loss to Neji from the last exam." She said.

((((((((((((Kurenai's Flashback))))))))))))))

Hinata was standing before Hiashi and the entire main branch, including the elders as they all gave her scowling looks except for one Hyuuga elder who refused to even take part in the meeting. Kurenai was off to the side, observing what the clan had called Hinata for. Hinata had her head down, not even daring to look at her father.

" Hinata, the reason you have been called here concerns your performance in the chunnin exams." Hiashi said.

Hinata and Kurenai knew this was not going to be good.

" Are you aware Hinata, that because of your loss, the branch family is laughing at us behind our backs?" Hiashi scolded.

" Lord Hiashi please, she…" Kurenai started but was cut off by Hiashi.

" You would do best to remain silent! You trained this girl! She's a disgrace!"

Hinata looked at the floor closing her eyes praying this was all a bad dream.

" Hinata, I'm well aware of how strong Neji is! But you are the daughter of the main house! You should have at the very least be able to wound him! But you couldn't even do that!…."

Hiashi continued.

" When a member of the main house is defeated in combat, the main house suffers the same blow! Hinata this is the final humiliation I will tolerate! From this moment on you are no longer my daughter and no longer heir."

Hinata's eyes snapped open. She felt a twist in her heart, almost as though somebody had torn it out. She slowly rose her head to her father, who was disgusted to even look at her. Hiashi turned his back.

" Begone Hinata, from this moment on you no longer even bare the Hyuuga name." Hiashi said.

Kurenai was speechless. She looked over to Hinata and wanted nothing more to hug her and never let go.

Moments later…..

Hinata and Kurenai were leaving the compound, Hinata's former clan was generous enough to allow her to take a few things with her. Kurenai had her arm over Hinata's shoulder. Hinata didn't utter a word.

" It's OK Hinata, you may stay with me as long as you like." Kurenai said.

As Hinata started walking further the pain in her eyes became more and more apparent. As they left the compound Hinata looked back, tears were beginning to stream down her face. She dropped her bag and ran away.

" Hinata!" Kurenai shouted.

((((((((((((((((End Kurenai's Flashback))))))))))))))))))

Naruto stood there just stunned. He couldn't think of a thing to say. But something suddenly came to mind.

"That…..Mother….Fffff…" Naruto started.

" Naruto!" Kurenai said.

Naruto looked over at Neji .Kurenai noticed this.

" It has been announced, that Neji has been engaged to marry Hanabi when she turns 18. Together they will command the Hyuuga clan."

Naruto snapped to Kurenai angry as all hell. Red charka in fact began to emit from his fist.

" Naruto, I understand how you feel, but you must not assault Neji. Doing so will get you disqualified from the tournament." Kurenai said.

Naruto grudgingly agreed. Now praying he gets to fight Neji again in the tournament.

Naruto and Kurenai went back over to their spots at the balcony to watch the remainder of the fight. However Naruto was locked onto Neji, who looked back at him.

" The winner is Shinji Haketa." The Proctor said as the Mist ninja raised his hand in victory.

Next Time

Naruto: I gotta find Hinata and talk to her.

Chouji: What? What kind of match is this?

Naruto: Next Time! Battle of teammates! and comfort to a friend!

More to come…… I eat reviews for breakfast, they got lots of calcium.