Chapter 2: 6 Years Later…
The door flew open as the girl raced down the street. She knew she was late meeting her friend. She ran, ran as fast as she could. Crap, if I don't get there in time… she thought. The girl turned corner after corner after corner until she saw her destination in sight. There it is! She sprinted as fast as she could with the little energy she had left. After what seemed like half of a mile, she reached her destination… a small forest. The raven looked around and did not see her friend that was supposed to be there. "Yes, I beat him." she thought out loud, but before she could leap with joy, she saw a bushel of blonde hair sitting behind a rock that she was standing in front of.
"Sorry, girly. You're a minute and a half too late." Naruto replied to her outburst. Hinata sighed as she walked around the rock and got a clearer view of Naruto.
"I knew…I shouldn't have shown that demonstration….to those kids." She said exhausted as she sat down next to Naruto.
"Oh, so you taught kids today?" Naruto asked her out of curiosity.
"Well, I-I wasn't trying to…" Hinata responded, "It was the y-younger kids in Iruka-sensei's class. They wanted to see how to throw a kunai properly."
"Oh… well, those kids cost you a dinner. You are treating for Ichiraku tonight!" Naruto said, smiling in her face.
Hinata dropped her mouth. "But, it-it wasn't my fault-"
"No excuses, you lost the bet we had. I got here before you did, and the bet was that whoever lost would treat for dinner tonight. You can't take back a promise." Naruto leaned back on the rock, feeling like he won the battle.
Hinata pouted her lip and crossed her arms. "Hmph! You're just taking advantage of getting free food!" she replied to his statement.
"…Maybe." Naruto grinned at Hinata. They both laughed as they got up and headed straight for Ichiraku's Ramen Shop.
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"Hey, old man, we're back!" Naruto shouted as he pulled up the curtain to the ramen shop. Teuchi looked behind him to see his two best customers: Naruto and Hinata.
"Naruto! Hinata! My best customers are here!" He shouted. Naruto grinned and Hinata waved to Teuchi. "So, who won the bet?" He asked.
"I did!" Naruto shouted. Hinata looked at Naruto, showing signs of anger.
"Oh, so it looks like Hinata is paying tonight." Teuchi smiled as he started cooking some ramen. "So, how many bowls will you have Naruto?" Ayame asked as she came in from the back door.
"Five!" Naruto grinned again.
"Five?!" Hinata complained. She looked at the money she had left and sighed, knowing that, once again, she wouldn't have any money left by the time they left Ichiraku. "Why is it that when you pay for my ramen, you still have money, but when I pay for your ramen, I always go broke?" She said while looking at Naruto.
"I don't know." Naruto shrugged his shoulders and Hinata sighed. "Maybe you don't make enough money." Naruto bluntly said to her. A vein popped out of Hinata's head as she balled up her fist. Or maybe you eat too much ramen, you greedy little… As soon as she thought of that, Teuchi finally brought them both ramen. Hinata and Naruto took their chopsticks and separated them, ready to eat their dinner.
"Itadakimasu!" They both shouted, as Teuchi watched them eat.
"Say, I heard from some of my other customers that tomorrow is the day for the graduation exams at the Academy." Teuchi said to his two customers. Naruto and Hinata stopped eating and widened their eyes. They had almost forgotten about the exams. "I'll take that as a yes." Ayame answered for them, "Are you two ready for it?"
The two looked at each other, when all of a sudden Naruto smirked. "Of course I am!" Naruto said as he pointed to himself. "All that we'll probably have to do is perform a clone jutsu. No big deal."
"No big deal?" Hinata said to Naruto, "Naruto, y-you can't even make a clone of yourself out of a paper bag." Naruto grunted while Teuchi stood there and laughed.
"Thank you, Hinata. Now I'm having the time of my life being laughed at." Naruto replied sarcastically. He knew that he wasn't the best at making clones, but he tried his best.
"S-sorry." She said softly, "I-It's just that… I'm kind of worried about you and your exam." Naruto waved off the comment and started eating his ramen again.
"Don't worry about it." He said to her, "I'm gonna go home and practice, and once I get to the Academy tomorrow, I'm gonna pass that test, you just wait!" He finished his ramen and raised the bowl up, asking for more.
Hinata stared at him, hoping for him to say something else, but he didn't. Well, I hope he's right and he passes… Hinata thought in her head. Before she knew it, Naruto had finished his last bowl. She looked down and saw food still in her first bowl. Well, I'm not really that hungry tonight… Hinata finished her last bowl and pushed it aside. "I'm finished." She said to Teuchi.
"So am I." Naruto said while patting his stomach, which looked as giant as a watermelon. Teuchi took their bowls and said his goodbyes to his customers. The two walked out into the street and said their goodbye as well as the evening was getting dark.
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Hinata walked towards the Academy, looking around to see if she saw Naruto. She walked inside and went to her normal classroom, but she didn't see Naruto. She sighed and sat down in the back.
For about a half an hour she waited for the exams to start, when Iruka walked into the room with some sheets of paper.
"Welcome everyone. Today is the final examination. If you passed today's test, you will receive a Konoha forehead protector and be recognized as ninja in this village." Iruka reviewed the papers that were in his hand.
Hinata looked around and still saw no Naruto. Where could he be? As soon as she thought that, Hinata saw Naruto on the ground crawling towards an empty seat from the entrance. Hinata sighed and shook her head. Naruto reached his seat and thought he wasn't seen, but was apparently wrong when Iruka threw a kunai at his desk. Naruto jumped out of his seat and fell to the floor. The entire class stared at him, Hinata mostly trying not to because of embarrassment. "I was so close…" Naruto said softly.
"You're late, where have you been?" Iruka asked his student. Naruto looked at Iruka with his eyes squinted. "Chill sensei, I just overslept, that's all." Naruto replied to him.
"Just overslept? Do you know that today is the final exam?" Iruka walked over to his student, who was still sitting on the floor. "Maybe…" Naruto answered him. Iruka squatted down to his level to get a better look at him.
"And do you know that you've failed the exam twice already?" Iruka stated to him. Naruto felt slightly embarrassed having everyone know that he has already failed the exams. He slowly got back into his seat and grinned at Iruka. Iruka sighed and walked back towards the front of the classroom. "Next time, I won't let you off so easy." Iruka stated to Naruto.
Naruto leaned against the back of his chair. Hinata looked over at Naruto and gave him a small wave with her hand. Naruto caught it and smiled at his best friend. "Now, as I was saying," Iruka continued, "You will receive a forehead protector when I and the other judges believe that you have passed the exam. Your test today will be on your clone technique."
Hinata felt her nerves kicking in a little, but she looked over at Naruto and saw panic in his eyes. Naruto… she thought as she felt a little sympathy for him. Naruto looked over at Hinata and saw that she was staring at him. Hinata mouthed the words, 'You're not nervous, are you?' to Naruto. Naruto closed his eyes and tried to calm down, even though clone techniques were not his best. He put a smile on his face, and looked back over at Hinata. Hinata calmed down a bit also after she saw Naruto's face. Naruto mouthed back to Hinata, 'Meet me outside the doors of the academy so we can show off our headbands.' Hinata smiled and nodded her head in agreement.
"When I call your name, please make your way to the classroom next door." Iruka stated as he looked down the list of people that he had.
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Hinata waited over an hour before her name was called. Naruto had already went ahead of her because the list was backwards. She knew that she was going next, she heard them call Kiba already, and she knew her name came after Kiba's. At least half the class was gone already. She became a little bit nervous, but she knew she would do alright in this exam.
"Hinata Hyuuga." Iruka said as he opened the door, "You're up." Hinata got up from her chair and walked towards Iruka. Iruka opened the door and let her out so she could walk to the classroom next door. Hinata opened the door to find only Iruka and another chuunin, Mizuki. Iruka sat down in his seat, which was behind a table with forehead protectors placed neatly on top.
"When you're ready, Hinata, you may perform your clone technique." Iruka informed her. Hinata nodded and began her technique. She placed her hands in the right position and her chakra began to surround her. She closed her eyes and calmed down. "Bushin-no-Jutsu!" she shouted and her chakra poofed into clouds of smoke. She looked out of the corners of her eyes to the sides of her and saw she made 3 clones that looked exactly like her. Iruka smiled and wrote his comments on the evaluation paper he had in his hand. Mizuki did the same.
"Congratulations, Hinata!" Iruka said with a smile on his face, "You passed the final exam, and have been officially granted the title of being a ninja." Hinata smiled and the clones disappeared in a poof of smoke. Iruka grabbed one of the forehead protectors and handed it to her. She took the forehead protector gratefully and tied it around her neck. "In three days, the graduates will be divided into teams. Meet back here at the academy at 10 AM on that day." Mizuki informed her. Hinata responded with a simple nod and walked out of the room into the hallway. She got halfway down the hall when she started running. She wanted to show Naruto her new headband as soon as possible. She flung the doors opens and looked around for Naruto……….to find out that he wasn't there.
"Naruto?" she said out loud, trying to find him, but the blonde was nowhere to be found.