hello, the last chapter was officially this story's longest, hooray, also, I'm just sorta gonna skip over the other three years at the academy and focus on the things happening a couple weeks before the graduation test, right now, everyone but hinata is thirteen, and she turns thirteen the day of the graduation test, just had to get that little confusion out of the way, NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell

chapter 6 - hell in the graduation test

konoha ninja academy room 403, three weeks until the graduation test.

iruka umino was giving a normal jutsu test in his classroom of the year-four academy students, the four best-ranked students being, naruto, rikou, hinata, and rika all tied for first overall, naruto and rikou tied for first in ninjutsu, hinata first in taijutsu, rika first in genjutsu, and all tied for first in special skills. rika had released her first set of wings, naruto felt close to achieving his second tail, rikou had become strong enough to get one more wing and was working on gaining his fourth, hinata had been working incredibly hard on releasing her second tail, not wanting to be limited to less than a third of the strength her friends could achieve, and her deadline was fast approaching, if she could not release her second tail by the day of the graduation exam, which happened to be her birthday, then she would be limited to a mere two tails. there was also another problem she had, while she was voted most outgoing in the academy, she couldn't find the courage to say three simple words, 'I love Naruto' were those three words, and she knew that if she couldn't say those words within three weeks time, she woudl never even come close to being able to release her second tail.

/hey! akamaru!/ hinata said in a quiet growl, getting akamaru's attention. /kiba does know I don't like him right?/ she asked the puppy expectently.

/er, uh, oh look! a fly!/ akamaru barked trying to change the subject.

/he doesn't?! why the hell didn't you tell him?!/ she asked in an aggravated growl.

/I did, he doesn't believe me, he'll only believe you, he said so./ akamaru barked shamefully.

/sigh it's okay, it's not your fault./ she replied turning her attention back to her best friends, rikou, naruto, and rika.

"hey! hinata!you wanna see if we can stay over at rikou's tonight? he says he found some scrolls on our predeccessors!" naruto asked, blissfully unaware of the war going on in hinata's head.

hurry! tell him how you feel! as soon as you leave this village on a mssion the other demon heiress's are going to be all over him, you have to get him before you leave for a mission!

'I'm trying! it's just that I can't get the courage to tell him, what if he doesn't like me back? it'll ruin our friendship!' she thought, hoping keisei could think of a solution.

wait a mintue! there's a way you could find out how he feels, you need to use a new neko gigei that I'm going to teach you right now! it's called, 'mental link observation', you can use it to listen in on his and kurui's conversations, the seals are truth, lies, heaven, hell, and spy, now, ask him how he feels about you, and then use the technique! hurry!

"um, naruto, what do you think of me? like, how do you feel about me?' hinata asked, concealing the fact she was doing the five seals she was told to do. 'NEKO GIGEI! MENTAL LINK OBSERVATION!' hinata thought ending the seals on spy.

'er, ok, just keep calm, she didn't ask specifically, how can I answer, without lying, and without telling her too much...'

"you know how I feel, you're one of my best friends!" he said with a slightly nervous grin.

"is that all?" she asked inquisitively.

'fuck! okay, um, think! think! rgh! kurui! what the hell should I do?!'

tell her the truth, as soon as you kits are out of the village on mission, and the demon heirs catch her scent on the wind, totally unmarked by anything, they're going to come right out in the open and try to mark her themselves. trust me, this question came from nowhere, the way she asked, she won't hold it against you if she doesn't feel the same, and if you say you don't feel that way and she does, you'll break her heart, the safest response is the truth.

'fine, I'll tell her, oh please let me finish this sentence!'

"er, um, eh yeah, um, well, no, that's not all..." he said nervously.

"well, what more do you think of me then?" she asked scooting a little closer to naruto, making him blush.

'damn, this isn't easy.'

"well, er, um, ah, a, lot, more..." he said blushing strongly.

"do you love me or something?" she asked leaning on his shoulder.

'why must she do this now?!'

"well, I er..." naruto mumbled nervously.

"'cuz, I love you, do you feel the same about me?" she said not showing the difficulty behind saying that.

'holy shit I can't believe I managed to say that! wait, why do I feel like I have a third arm or something?' hinata thought to keisei.

congrats, by telling him, you accomplished something hard enough to release your second tail.

'yay! now I can keep up with my friends!'

"well, I, er ye-ye-" naruto said seemingly choking on whatever he was about to say, as if his heart wouldn't let him say it.

"I was right, rikou, you owe me 1,000 ryo." rika said flatly as rikou grumbled and handed her the money.

"you bet on what I would say?" naruto said his left eybrow twitching in anger.

"no, we bet on how long it would take for hinata to get you to spill, I bet 1,000 ryo that you would tell, and she would be to shy to start the conversation. ergo, I lost." rikou said grumpily.

"everyone can I have your attention please!" iruka yelled over the conversations going on. "in light of recent events we will not be waiting three weeks to give the gradutation exam! the test will be held right now! get together with a group of your friends and come up here with them and you will take the graduation exam!" iruka yelled, effectively creating a panic.

"naruto, hinata, rika, kiba, that's everyone, alright let's go." rikou said calmly as they got up and walked to iruka while the others continued to panic, except for sasuke and shino. "alright then iruka-sensei, give us the test, and don't even think about saying we passed just cause we were ready for your little surprise test." rikou said expecting a good challenge.

"no, not quite that boring, I'm sure you're glad to know. this is a tes of teamwork, you must defeat me without me touching you." iruka said walking outside. at this point all the other students had grouped together with her friends, and were following iruka and the pranksters out the door. when they were outside iruka took a ready stance and spoke once more. "now, don't worry about injuring me, I can take it after all i am a- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" iruka said screaming as a card passed through his left leg, effectively, removing it.

"fighting rule number one, NEVER, monologue." rikou said whiping his card and returning it to his deck.

"WHATEVER JUST FIX MY LEG!" he yelled in pain.

"fine, KARASU GIHOU! LIMB REGENERATION!" rikou shouted making a single handseal, meaning, pity.

"ah, ah, ah, oh man, that hurt, fine rikou, you and your friends pass, but you'd better hope that they're strong enough to fend for themselves out in the ninja world." iruka said, as the other teams took their turns, and half passed.

"okay, back in the classroom!" iruka said to the students as he walked back, the five pranksters already inside. once everyone was back inside he called them to attention. "be here in one hour if you passed to get your team assignments, the rest of you, you can take the normal graduation test in a couple weeks, later!" iruka said with a smile as he left.

"great, no matter how you slice, two of us are seperated from the rest! dammit!" kiba cursed, severely pissed at the prospect of being seperated from his friends, and the people who made him one of konoha's number one pranksters.

"yeah, sucks, oh well, we'll find a way around it like always." rikou said confidently.

"let's just focus on satisfying naruto's massive appetite for ramen in an hours time." rika said as naruto involuntarily began walking towards ichiraku's ramen stand.

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konoha ninja academy, one hour later

"alright! we got here just in time!" naruto said with a huge grin on his face.

"barely, next time, bring the ramen with you and pay old man teauchi for the bowl!" hinata said scoldingly, before hugging him randomly.

"heh, random hugs? that's gonna be real annoying if you're trying to keep people from knowing you're dating." rikou said jokingly.

hug

"what the crap?!" rikou yelled as rika hugged him, catching him completely off-guard.

"heh, looks like your eyes can't catch me huh?" she teased.

"stupid phoenix powers." rikou grumbled as he sat on the desk in front of naruto and hinata, "dude, I swear, you're real lucky I'm still rich from that kumo thing 9 years ago." rikou said to naruto.

"whatever, if it tastes like ramen, it's going down my throat!" naruto said in a joking kind of tone.

"attention please!" iruka yelled. "now, normally, the teams would consist of three man squads, but seeing as there's a group that works very well together, there will be one five-man squad."iruka announced.

"team one"

'don't care'

"team two"

'why do we have to hear this again?'

"team three"

'still don't care'

"team four"

'I can't believe hinata actually likes me!'

"team five"

'maybe if I cut his leg off again he'd tell me what team I was on already'

"team six"

'come on! am I with naruto or not?!"

"team seven: naruto uzumaki, rikou karasu, kiba inuzuka,"

'DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!!!'

"hinata hyuuga, and rika nanashi. congrats, you're the five man team."

'huh?'

"sweet!" naruto said as rikou grinned.

"YES!" hinata yelled.

"cool!" kiba said loudly.

"team eight: sakura haruno, sasuke uchiha, and shino aburame."

"yay!" sakura said.

"whatever." sasuke said.

"..." shino said nothing.

"team nine of last year is still on active duty, team ten: shikamaru nara, chouji akamichi, ino yamanaka. there, that's everyone, stay here and wait for your senseis to come get you." iruka said leaving the academy.

three hours later

"where the fuck is this asshole?!" rikou yelled, rika hugging him trying to calm him down.

"cool your jets, if you kill our sensei we'll never get a new one." rika said releasing her wings trying to hold him down.

step,step,step,step, door-knob turning

rip, clunk, clunk, slice

"hmm, looks like you guys don't trust your new sensei do you?" came a feminine voice.

"that voice, oh dear god no, please don't tell me..." rikou trailed off recognising the voice.

"well," the voice said as the door that was ripped off it's hinges to protect her threw the door down revealing the last person rikou wanted to see. "I'm your new sensei! Anko Mitarashi at your service!"

"NO!!! DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!!! WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!" rikou yelled at the top of his lungs.

"hey! you're that kid from a couple years ago!" anko said with a wicked grin.

"STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME YOU FUCKING RAPIST!!!" rikou yelled releasing his wings and using them to hover in mid-air.

"heh heh heh, it wasn't that scary was it?" she asked innocently.

"I WAS THREE YEARS OLD! YOU'RE LUCKY I DON'T THROW YOU OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH FOR THAT!!!" rikou yelled.

"sorry, geez, I swear, I was just trying to be nice." she said sadly.

"well," hinata began, "next time why don't you try and keep your shirt on, you jump-started his hormones and now he runs like hell as soon as someone mentions your name."

"oh, um, yeah, could've done that a bit better." anko said a bit more cheery. "well, what's done is done! come on! let's go get more acquainted with one another!" anko said much happier than when she walked in.