Brewing Trouble

I would like to thank saruke101 for pointing out the "otousan" error! ^^ Thanks for all the support everyone! =] By the way, I forgot to mention that Hinata's way of calling Neji as "Neji-sama" is a polite language, addressing him as Lord Neji since he is the heir of the Hyuga Clan. I suppose you all know what the suffixes "sensei", "kun" and "chan" means so without further ado, I present you Chapter 4!

Hinata was thinking about how disjointedly time seemed to flow in Konoha, passing in a blur at times, with single images standing out more clearly than others. And then, at other times, every second was significant, etched in her mind. Just like how we do not remember days but moments, memories of the meteor shower night flooded her mind as she reminisced the first, last and only time she spent with Neji, not Neji-sama. Although that happened many years ago, the memory was still vividly clear.

Now, Hinata was a young girl at the age of 13, a teenager experiencing puberty. Recently, it has been rather difficult to hide her identity as a female. Hiashi suggested that she wrapped a long white cloth across her chest to avoid suspicions especially when she started to attend the Ninja Academy. "That should do!" Hinata happily stated as she stepped out of the bathroom. Her dark blue hair was short, falling on each side of her smooth face, purposely cut to suit her image as a boy. She wore a long sleeved pale jacket with a hood that had fire symbols on the upper left and right sleeves to reduce the probability that her identity will be exposed as well as a pair of navy blue pants that ended below her knees. A container was tied to her right thigh to store her weapons. Satisfied with her clothes, a grin stretched across her face.

Hiashi's eyes were brimming with tears as he took in the image of his grown-up daughter. "I can't believe you're finally graduating! Look at you, all grown-up. You're really the most precious treasure in my eyes," Hiashi said while smiling and patting her head. "Otousama…" Hinata muttered. "It's all my fault you can't be like other girls of your age. Having to disguise you as a male while Hanabi is able to be herself," Hiashi continued to blame himself. "It's not otousama's fault. Besides, I never blamed you," Hinata comforted her father, trying to lift the burden off his shoulders.

After bidding goodbye to her father and her younger sister, Hanabi who was now 7 years old, she dashed towards the main house, specifically to Neji-sama's room. Waiting outside his room, she could feel the excitement building up in her. She was going to graduate today, after so many years of studying and training. Soon enough, Neji slide opened the fusuma and was already dressed. His usual long brown hair was tied back in a ponytail, while two straps framed the sides of his pale face. He wore a khaki shirt and slightly dark brown shorts with bandages wrapped around his right arm, chest, and right leg. Neji's facial expression was stern and hard - an achievement from the elders' upbringing to hide his innermost emotions.

"Ikimasho!" Neji exclaimed, walking briskly past Hidaka. Hinata merely nodded, her head cast downwards as she followed closely behind him. In the past few years, Neji became very strict even at trivial matters as if to display the supposed authority of an heir. Due to this overwhelming aura that Neji-sama gave off, Hinata was very timid and soft-spoken in front of him. Nothing is permanent but change. Looks like both of us have changed in these few years. "Hayaku, Hidaka!" Neji commanded as he continued walking towards his destination – the Ninja Academy.

It was a huge expanse of azure blue sky dotted with magnolia white clouds on the Graduation Day. The ceremony was held outside the Ninja Academy building, located close to the tree, with many changing tints of green, that has a swing. Throngs of graduating students were already gathered at the venue with Iruka-sensei controlling the human traffic. "All of you line up now!" he shouted. Neji was already in his position, one of the first few people in line being the "Number One Rookie". The best students of any graduating class were awarded this title. From her position, somewhere in the middle of the queue, Hinata could see that Sasuke Uchiha was also the first few in line. "Dead-Last" was the title given to the bottom end of the pecking order of the graduating class – students who performed the worst out of their class and as expected, Naruto Uzumaki and Rock Lee are at the end in the line. The students applauded wildly as Hokage, the guest-of-honor, arrived.

Neji had an expressionless face when he received the head protector from Hokage. The head protector was given to students upon their graduation as proof of their achievement. Neji shook hands with Hokage and worn the dark brown head protector around his neck. Down the queue, Hinata was tapping her foot nervously on the grass. Calm down, Hinata! She scolded herself inwardly. Upon the announcement of her name, she quickly strode towards the elevated stage. A radiant smile was on her face when she obtained the head protector that was worn snugly over her forehead.

The ceremony ended in half an hour and Hokage had left with other more imperative and urgent matters on hand. The graduating students are then separated into squads of three Genins and assigned to a Jonin-sensei to instruct them further. At this point, they will be tested once again by their Jonin teacher to assess whether they would be able to handle the demands that will be made of them as ninja (i.e. the dynamics of teamwork). Iruka-sensei was currently announcing the members of various teams as well as their instructor. Team Asuma, also known as Team 10, consisted of Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka and their instructor, Asuma Sarutobi. This was an expected team, making them the second generation Ino-Shika-Cho Trio (their fathers being the original). As such, they are good friends and had worked well together during group assignments previously in the Ninja Academy, although they tend to bicker from time to time.

The student body made their dissatisfaction audible by groaning when Neji and Sasuke, the Number One Rookies and hottest males, were assigned to teams that had a Dead-Last, Lee and Naruto. Team Kakashi or Team 7 comprised of Kakashi Hatake the instructor, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno. Iruka-sensei explained that the members were selected in order to balance out their talents: Naruto, the worst student in his graduating class, would benefit from Sakura's intelligence and Sasuke's proficiency with ninja skills. Sakura would similarly benefit from her more battle-capable teammates, whereas Sasuke would benefit from being forced to work with others.

Without a doubt, Neji was surprised by this combination where he was a member of Team Guy. He had no idea why he was placed with Lee especially when there is a huge difference in power and skills between both of them. Although Lee sees Neji as a rival, Neji did not consider him as an enemy since he was not on par with him. Neji even felt that Lee's efforts of improving himself were in vain and believed that the latter would be stuck as a failure for the rest of his life. To make matters worst, his instructor was Gai Maito who was corny, old-fashioned and frequently referring to common clichés of "youth". He can compete with Lee in terms of immaturity and insanity. Neji internally slapped his forehead for having such bad luck. The only normal person in his team was Tenten. Neji respected her, as she was independent, unlike typical girls that relied on others. With a sigh, Neji approached his team. I wonder how messed up my life will be with this amazingly ridiculous team…

"The last team is Team Kurenai with Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, Hidaka Hyuga and Kurenai Yuhi as instructor." Hinata bit her lips, slightly worried and yet disappointed at the same time. Her team was the only one without a female Genin. She felt much more at ease when she was interacting with girls but for now, she will have to cooperate with her male teammates. Hinata was very shy towards them since she had only interacted with a few males – her father, Hizashi-sama and Neji-sama.

"Heh! We're the only team with all males!" Kiba complained to Shino, where the latter just shrugged his shoulders. As Hinata made her way towards her teammates, many female Genins crowded around her, disappointment most apparent in their voices. Hinata was considerably popular among females due to her sensitive, gentle, kind and polite nature unlike the conventional rude males. The chief reason should be the fact that I'm a girl I suppose. Despite her popularity, Hinata's best and closest friends were Sakura and Ino.

Upon Hinata's arrival, Kiba's dog, Akamaru, jumped off its master's head and circled around the former. After sniffing her, Akamaru happily barked at Hinata as if waiting for her to pat it. Just like any normal girl, Hinata merrily patted the adorable dog. Kiba knotted his eyebrows as he inquired in a puzzled tone, "I wonder why Akamaru likes you? It usually likes females and is definitely not close to any male other than me." The memories of Akamaru barking at Shino, Choji, Shikamaru and Naruto and other boys flooded his mind as he continued, "Hmm… Akamaru is behaving weirdly today." Hinata froze in terror, unsure of what to do or say. Kiba-kun couldn't have realized I'm a girl, could he? This thought greatly alarmed her when Shino interrupted them, "Is this of high significance? Who Akamaru likes is its problem, not yours, Kiba." The sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils blazed with anger, "What did you say, Shino?" Shino then retorted with a stolid face, "I hate explaining the same thing twice." Realizing that an argument between the two over a dog was going to break out, Hinata attempted to be play the mediator. "Umm… Le-Let's talk things over," she stammered, "We-We're going to be a team from now on s-so let's try to get along, okay?" Her attempt seemed to be fruitful where Kiba and Shino let the matter rest, although one could sense that they were unhappy. Phew! That was lucky! I need to be more careful from now on…

The happy chattering of voices could be heard across the field where the students were either congratulating each other or talking with their teammates. In a corner, two Genins were having a discourse when one spoke icily, "Did you see how that timid stuttering Hidaka lured the girls?" Undeniably, he was one of the many anti-Hidaka supporters who detested Hidaka's underhand means to earn the females' affections. "Yeah, what's so great about that coward? He's only a lowly branch house member of the Hyuga Clan," the other added on, aggravating the situation. Soon enough, Neji's keen hearing picked up the conversation that seemed entirely hostile to his protector. Instinctively, Neji's legs carried him towards them - his mass towering over the two ninjas. His voice quivered with rage as he spoke, "Who are you? What right do you have to judge the members of the Hyuga Clan?" If looks could kill, they would have withered there and then. Neji was definitely not someone they could mess around with especially when they were lucidly clear that they were not his match. Feeling a pang of fear shot through them, the two Genins scurried away from him – defeated. However, Neji's defensive actions towards Hidaka did not help the latter, instead, it only led to the unforeseen disaster for Hidaka.

Trouble was also brewing at the Hyuga Clan, mostly ignited by the respected, experienced and benevolent elders. "Hizashi, we propose that a Protector Examination should be held. It is a fact that Hidaka is not the most appropriate candidate for the heir's protector," one elder asserted, handing the academic reports of Hidaka from the Ninja Academy. Hidaka was merely meeting the expectations of the teachers, neither exceeding it nor having outstanding performance.

Glossary
Ikimasho: Let's go
Hayaku: Hurry
Hokage: A leader of Konoha who is generally the strongest in the village
Head Protector: This is a rectangular piece of metal which is attached usually to a blue or red colored bandana either folded or left normally. Each village has their own symbol carved in the center of the metal sheet to represent and show that they are members of the village. The way Head Protectors are worn have no boundaries but the traditional way is on the forehead but it is usually worn in different places such as a belt or tied around the arm
Genin: A junior ninja who is at the lowest level of ninja
Jonin: An elite ninja who is generally highly experienced shinobi (ninja) with great individual skill that serves as military captain

Read and review please! I need ideas for the next chapter but I roughly imagined it already ._. I'll try to update as soon as possible… I hope =]