Appearances Can Deceive

Chapter 10

'What a day!'

Ok giving special shout outs to:

Krimson Rogue, draw.62121, Dragon Man 180, PotoMemories, uzukun7 (who brought to my attention that I forgot the dinner scene with Ino.. thank you), RagingDragon04, the16thday, pccttgirl23, TheHybrid, Lizi, Maria, and Wind Scythe!

Thanks for commenting, and supporting my fic! You guys rock my favorite pair of black and purple checkered sow…..with little bitty skulls in the middle !

"Are you sure you're ok Hinata-Chan." Ino asked a little concerned that her friend was stabbing her food with her chopsticks.

Lately Hinata had been acting a little strange...come to think of it, so had Naruto. Training had gone completely to hell. Hinata refused to work with Naruto, who in turn refused to fight with anyone except Hinata.

So Ino tried to spar with Hinata, but it ended up that Naruto would jump into the middle of it, attacking Hinata. In turn she would push herself ten times harder to beat him. Each one looking like they were out for blood. It would always end the same though, Naruto would push Hinata to her limit, and then Hinata would storm away apologizing to Ino, for her sudden fleeing.

Shikamaru sat next to Ino with a little bit of a hesitant look. This wasn't the kind of 'breakfast' that he had been expecting. At first Ino had asked him to dinner, then gradually it had progressed into breakfast before the exams.

He really didn't care much at first that she kept changing dates on him, till he found out exactly why. Naruto and Hinata were completely on edge with each other. Hinata was practically killing her food with the wooden chopsticks, that Shikamaru were sure were about to bend and break at any moment. While Naruto simply stared at Hinata with a foxy grin that seemed to irritate, and make her blush at the same time.

Hinata looked up to Ino with a smile finally realizing that she had asked her a question..

"Hai Ino-Chan I'm fine."

Hinata tried her best to ignore Naruto, and the blush slowly spreading onto her face. "Shikamaru-San are you going to be refereeing the exams this year?" Hinata asked trying to start up some conversation that most definitely didn't involve the blonde across from her.

Shikamaru nodded with his usual uncaring attitude. "Hai, this year should prove to be interesting."

"Why?" Naruto had momentarily diverted his attention from Hinata.

Shikamaru just shrugged. "According to Tsunade-Sama, a few ninja in our age group will also be participating this year, besides you three. Seems they also had some problems moving up."

Ino sighed with relief. "That will definitely ease the embarrassment. At least losing to someone your own age is less embarrassing."

Hinata looked at Ino with concern. She was probably the only one who had caught the depressed undertone of her statement, since Naruto was much to busy trying to devour his food in one gulp, and Shikamaru calmly sipped away on his tea. She supposed it was mostly her fault Ino felt that way, after all she had not been much of a teammate, spending more of her time fighting with Naruto than actually helping her.

"Don't worry you'll be fine Ino, you've improved a lot. I know you'll pass this exam easily." Shikamaru stuck a cigarette between his parted lips, taking a drag before giving a sincere smile at the blushing blonde.

Hinata smiled inwardly. It seems she wasn't the only one who got flustered easily when speaking to the one she loved. Hinata looked across the table to see Naruto slurping up the last of his soup like a starving child. Smiling to her self.

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The three of them made there way down the halls of the school toward the examination room. The first part of the Chunnin exam, the written part, was to start momentarily. Just a few questions to answer and they would be on there way. Or in Naruto's case just sitting there not doing anything until Ibiki-Sama reveals that it was just a test of their information gathering skills.

They walked into the room to be greeted by the booming voices of the other participants. Hinata scanned the room until she found some shinobi close to their age. Ino was right, that did make her feel a little better. Then her attention was diverted to the little gennin participating for the first time. Each wore an anticipating look that said they were as nervous as could be.

Naruto sighed at how much of a waste of time this part of the exam was. He passed last time without spying or answering so much as one question for crying out loud.

"So Hinata can I look off of your paper?" he teased in his arrogant little manner, trying his best to get her to crack, and speak to him.

Hinata looked away fighting the urge to laugh and say yes. Instead she looked forward pretending to scout for a seat before replying. "I'm sorry Naruto-San what was that?"

Naruto looked amused, ready with a come back, until he heard someone calling out to him. He turned his attention from Hinata to the brown haired gennin across the room.

Konohamaru was waving with Moegi, and Udon, slowly making their way toward him. Naruto waved back then went to deliver his come back only to realize that Hinata had walked away, now standing with Ino and Hanabi near the front of the room. He sighed before talking to Konohamaru. "What's up kid?"

"So you're in this exam too huh? Well don't expect to get very far if you go against me and my team!" He yelled energetically, pointing in Naruto's face with a smile. Moegi and Udon posing behind him like something from a cheesy superhero magazine.

Naruto let out a low chuckle. "Right...you can't even do the sexy no jutsu. What makes you think you're so tough?"

Konohamaru scowled, taking Naruto's words as a challenge before puffing into a naked woman, smoke being the only cover from peering eyes. "What do you think Naruto-kuuun?" Konohamaru teased before turning back into his old self.

"Not bad." Naruto stated simply

Konohamaru exploded. "Oh yeah lets see you do better!"

Naruto smiled, made the hand signs then whispered Harem no jutsu. The room was suddenly filled to the rim with naked 'girl' Naruto's. Eyes popped open, blood trickling from a few young men's noses, before Naruto puffed back into his regular self. Konohamaru could only gap at his idol. This whole time Konohamaru had been learning to do just one, while Naruto seemed to be able to make a whole army.

"Teach me how to do that!"

Naruto looked around the room at all there eyes staring at him, until he met Hinata's, he had expected her to be scowling...since that was usually how women reacted to his jutsu, but she wasn't she was...laughing. Without looking back at Konohamaru he replied. "Sure, after the exams. See ya later."

Naruto made his way to the front where Hinata talked with Ino, and Hanabi. "How's it ladies?"

"Naruto what's wrong with you! Using some jutsu like...whatever that was, in front of all these little kids!" Ino boomed clearly annoyed at Naruto's antics.

Obviously, Ino was not aware that the 'whatever that was' jutsu happened to take a lot of skill, and to make that many was a challenge all its own. And obviously she was also very unaware of how much she acted like Sakura. Naruto just smiled with a shrug, not even answering, since he knew any comment would get a punch to the head.

"Hinata say something! You don't approve do you!" Ino focused her attention on the giggling Hinata.

Hinata shook her head, fighting down her giggles before replying, completely unable to keep the smile from her face. "Of course not."

Ino posed triumphantly, knowing she had won the argument before Hinata continued. "Konohamaru is still too young for the Harem no Jutsu, Naruto shouldn't have shown off like that."

Ino practically fainted while Hanabi simply laughed at her blushing sister. Sometimes Hinata was just a little clueless. She hadn't realized that Ino was referring to the moral part of the jutsu not Konohamaru, and Naruto's ability to perform it. Before Hinata could fix her little slip up. Ibiki made his dramatic entrance into the room.

Everyone went silent as they made there way into a seat. Ibiki went over the rules quickly, and thoroughly, scaring the new gennin out of their wits. Then informed the returning gennin that this time, there was a slight difference. Answers counted for or against you, depending on whether or not they were correct. There are no free passes this time he stated looking directly at Naruto.

The tests were passed out, and everyone silently went to work. Hinata looked down at her paper, activating her Byuugagen at the same time. She searched the instructors thoroughly until she was positive that none of them were Neji in disguise. He would be the only threat to her passing or failing in this jutsu.

Until now she had only tried it once, it seemed to be effective, but their was always the chance of getting caught. Making sure no ones eyes were on her, she ran through the proper signs before whispering 'guardian spirit no jutsu'.

Okito who had been in his usual spot, hiding in Hinata's hair was starting to feel the effect. Slowly his body started to disappear until he was non excitant, to the naked eye at lest. Quickly he leapt from behind Hinata's hair to land gracefully on the desk. Sure that he gained no attention he set off to do what Hinata had instructed before the exam. Someone in the room knew all the answers and was in disguise, his job was to find them.

After sniffing around for a few minutes he finally found his target. In the very back of the room sat Tenten, in a henge jutsu. Her only give away was the herbal scent that Okito was picking up, that belonged exclusively to Tenten. Creeping up on the desk beside her he sat, silently, waiting until Hinata noticed that he was in place.

Hinata took a small breath before running through the hand signs and whispering 'mirror no Jutsu'. Her eyes immediately changed into a glowing baby blue. Focusing her eye sight, she could see every answer on Tenten's paper through Okito's eyes. She wrote as quickly as she could, finishing fast before the jutsu took too much out of her.

When she was finished Okito released the jutsu running back to cover under her hair, just in time for the jutsu to deactivate.

Naruto side glanced at Hinata catching a tinge of blue eyes before they vanished. He mentally questioned if it was just a trick of his mind or had her eyes actually changed, but he decided to push it from his thoughts while side glancing at Ino on the opposite side of him. It seemed she was getting along just fine with her mind transfer jutsu.

He mentally sighed before actually looking at his test. So no free passes? Yeah right, that was obviously an attempt to get Naruto sweating, and nervous. Ibiki whether he knew it or not was fairly predictable. Had answers actually counted against them, Naruto was positive Ibiki would have kept the information to himself.

So instead of doing any real kind of work he sat silently waiting for the test to end. After a few more hours, and more numbers being called off, along with complaints of rejected shinobi, the test was over. Ibiki smiled before asking if anyone would like to be excused from the tenth question, after a few left, he continued. As Naruto expected the tenth question was not a question at all, but a pass to move on to the second part of the exam. There was a collective sigh of relief before everyone got up to leave the room.

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"Wow, Ibiki-Sama had me worried there for a minute. I thought he was serious when he said there were no free passes. I had expected to just sit there, until the final question." Ino ranted as the three of them made their way down the streets.

"Me too. Good thing I had a back up." Hinata said patting Okito on the head with a smile.

Naruto remained silent until Ino asked if he was nervous or not. He shook his head. "Nah, I had it covered."

Ino put her hands on her hips with a skeptical look. "Oh yeah? How exactly did you get the answers?"

Naruto gave Ino a questioning look, with a sly smile. "What answers?"

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Ibiki made his way around the room collecting the papers. He was positive that all the 'returning' gennin did not take this exam lightly. His bluff had obviously inspired fear in them, all the papers collected had some kind of answer written, tons of mistakes erased, and re-written in chicken scratch.

Soon he found his way to the seat where Naruto had sat. He picked the test up with a smile, positive that the boy had probably scribbled something completely idiotic in an attempt to at least complete the test, only to find a paper with a name and a small comment.

No free passes...HAHA you should have seen your face you looked so serious Ibiki-Sama!

"NARUTO!"

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"Well my shift is starting. See you guys later for some training?" Ino asked a bit relieved that she had an excuse to get away from the tense atmosphere.

Hinata nodded "How about training at ground 3…..at 7?"

"How about eight?" Naruto interjected.

"Ok eight it is! See you guys then." Ino waved running off through the crowds of people toward the flower shop. Leaving Hinata and Naruto alone, and more uncomfortable by the minute.

Naruto watched as Hinata shifted uneasily, brushing her indigo hair from her face, a small blush spreading onto her porcelain face. It was amazing how much those little details stuck out, little things he never would have noticed before. He moved a little closer, brushing his shoulder against hers, watching as her blush deepened. He liked it. It made her all the more appealing.

"What do you want to do till 7?"

Hinata glanced at Naruto from the corner of her eyes. His unruly blonde hair wiped around his face, brushing against those adorable whisker marks, a smirk playing on his lips. Her stomach turned and she had to resist the urge to smile. Damn his cuteness! It just wasn't fair! How in the seven hells could she stay mad at a face like that! She stared back ahead at the road, fighting with her inner self on what to say.

'This is ridiculous! Tell him you have to wash your hair or something and get out of here!'

'I-I can't lie…besides, I….i think I'm over it. All he said was that he loved her…so what? Am I supposed to just hate him for that! I knew from the beginning how much….how much her liked her. It was my own fault. Besides I never really gave him the chance to explain. It was my own fault.'

'Your own fault! He led you on! Making you believe that you two could work! That you were worth his attention! That he loved you!'

"Stop it!" Hinata was so angry with her inner self, at all those things that….that sounded so true. She hated how much it made sense.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Hinata a little unsure as to what it was that he did to piss her off this time "Stop what?"

"Huh?" Hinata snapped out of her conversation with herself and looked at the confused blonde beside her, the one that made her feel this way. "Uh…..ano…I-I have to wash m-my hair."

Naruto watched as Hinata ran down the street, bumping into pedestrians in her hurry. He waited till she was well out of sight before pulling out the folded piece of paper that he had been messing with in his jacket pocket. Unfolding it until two young ninja faced him. A shy little indigo haired kunoichi stared at the camera with small smile. He smirked at the picture before folding it back up, and sticking it in his pocket.

He hadn't meant to take it, but since Hinata had taken the Kyuubi clipping from his private box (explained later) he thought it was only fair that he take something from her. Besides when he snuck into her room, he had hoped to find her there. Instead Naruto found an empty room and a ripped photo. But it would work perfectly in his little scheme 'get Hinata back'. The wind blew his hair from his face, his blue eyes set firmly on the Hokage monument.

'Better get started if I want this to work.'

There it is chapter 10 oh yeah, feel the joy! I bet you're all wondering whether or not Hinata and Naruto are every going to get some mushy romance time...well...you will see!