The start of the Chunin Exam was rough, but it was all made better when Naruto saw his most favorite person in the room.
After dealing with the fiasco on the second floor and watching Sasuke and Lee fight for some dumb reason, Naruto sincerely thought the entire Chunin Exam was going to be a dragged on mess. After nearly an hour of being back at the Ninja Academy, they finally made it to the exam room for the first part.
As soon as they stepped into the room, most eyes were on Team 7, since they were the last squad to arrive. In the matter of a couple minutes, another Leaf Village rookie team—consisting of Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akamichi, and Ino Yamanaka—found them and spoke to each other for a few moments. After playful teasing amongst them, another rookie team approached—
Which is when Naruto thought things were finally starting to get interesting.
"Hinata!" Naruto shouted in greeting. "You're here!"
Not giving her the chance to speak, the blonde hair boy ran up to her, nearly lifting her off the ground in greeting. Naruto declared that he missed her, to which Hinata reminded that they just seen each other a few days ago. Naruto claimed that a few days was just too long ago.
Once the 'Rookie Nine' got reacquainted with one another, Hinata felt this strange feeling wash over her, kind of like that time a few years ago during the 'incident'. Looking around at the other genin teams, Hinata paused when she noticed a boy about her age with striking red hair, dark circles around his eyes, and the kanji symbol for love on one side of his forehead. Hinata could sense a lot of anger inside him, but more sadness—
Just like Naruto when they first met.
Hinata only made a single step toward him when Sasuke verbally stopped her, asking what she was thinking about doing. She calmly claimed that she just wanted to talk to the genin, because he looked like he needed a friend. Nearly all of the Rookie Nine argued against the idea. He had too much of a dangerous aura around him, which matched all the other genin in the room.
Hinata didn't falter in her resolve, insisting that they needed to get to know someone before they are judged.
Seeing that nothing he would say would get through to her, Sasuke actually looked to Naruto for help. The Uchiha asked his teammate to speak some sense into their mutual friend. Naruto was the only person Hinata would listen to.
The two stared at each other, waiting for the other to falter in their gaze. After a few moments, Naruto wondered, "Do you really want to talk to Gaara?"
Without a second of hesitation, Hinata declared, "I do."
Waiting just a moment, Naruto held out his hand, surprising the others when he smiled warmly. "Then let's go talk to him together."
"Naruto—!"
"We'll be fine since we're going together," Naruto interrupted the insistent protest. "And it's not like he can do anything harmful to us with so many people around. Besides, Hinata is the best judge of character. If she wants to be friends with Gaara, then I'll try to be friends with him too."
Smiling at the beautiful-eyes teen, Naruto grabbed her hand before either one of them could change their mind. "Let's go make a new friend."