This chapter has been revised as of 8/12/20

Chapter 1: Teammates

When Hinata returned home from the Academy Graduation Exam and the following ceremony, she had a difficult time deciding where to place her official headband. She didn't tend to put such deep thought into her appearance, focusing more on practicality and meeting the clan's standards, but her promotion to Genin was a significant event. It marked the start of her career as a kunoichi, so it made sense to try to take more personal pride. She eventually chose to tie the headband loosely around her neck, where it would be visible and easy to read. The rest of the Main Branch would not be happy if she covered her forehead anyway, as it showed that she was unbranded. The heir being mistaken for a member of the Cadet Branch would be insulting. She was fairly accurate when it came to guessing their feelings on matters by now.

The next day, Hinata dressed in a long sleeved, but lightweight training shirt with a thin layer of protective mesh underneath it, and a set of indigo pants. After attaching her weapons pouch and knife holster, she found an old beige hooded jacket in her closet. It looked like it'd fallen into a corner years ago, since she had no recollection of ever wearing it, or even seeing it. She tried it on out of curiosity, and realized that it fit her well. It even had the Hyuga Clan's symbol patched onto the shoulders. Maybe it'd been a gift at some point?

She saw no harm in making use of it now. Hinata tied the jacket around her waist. The temperature was comfortable indoors, but outside was too hot at this time of year to wear a jacket constantly.

When she said goodbye to her father that morning, he seemed to be at a loss for words before his unreadable expression returned. He went back to his paperwork, mentioning that it had once belonged to her mother. Oh.

It was strange to see him rattled, if only for a few seconds. His guard was always up, even around her, but that moment only reinforced her decision to wear the old jacket. Hinata did not want to leave it behind. She knew it was irrational to cling to something just because of who owned it years ago, but it made her feel slightly better. The nervous energy that bothered her since last night wasn't as insistent.

Hinata attracted some staring as she entered the classroom, to her heavy discomfort. Did everyone forget how they had treated her before? After growing so used to being ignored or left out, she hated being the center of attention like this. Unlike when they were training in class, there was nothing to serve as a distraction.

She kept her face as blank and disinterested as possible, passing the front row of desks on the way to her seat with her head tilted down. Moments later, they were back to minding their own business.

Now that she couldn't sense 20 pairs of eyes on her at once, Hinata chose to sit at the higher up desks in the back row instead of her normal spot in the middle. Assigned seats were meaningless now that they were Genin, and everyone was already taking full advantage of this by spreading out around the room to talk to each other.

Once everyone nearby adjusted their seating in accordance to her position, the room's volume hit its normal level when the teacher wasn't present: as loud as possible. She sighed and folded her arms in front of her, leaning her chin on them as she scanned the rows below for anyone she recognized in passing. She'd thrown herself into maintaining her class rank so much that she'd forgotten the names of people unless they happened to be in the same class multiple times. At least some of them must have passed.

There was Sasuke, one row below and to the left of her. He was uninterested in talking with anyone either. He tapped a finger on the desktop as he waited, eyes unfocused. It would have caused a small political scandal if the last Uchiha didn't become a Genin on his first attempt. He'd have been especially motivated if he took his exam after seeing her pass. After competing with him in school, Sasuke wouldn't take it very well if she got ahead at the very end. Being beaten by a Hyuga, the heir of the clan that gained even more power since his own clan's demise, would make it twice as hard on his ego.

Hinata considered him a strong rival even without the clan name, even if he was an arrogant one sometimes. But then again, that same confidence in his own strength made him all the more formidable. Sasuke was never afraid to look her in the eye or challenge her position. He forced her to her limits in weekly sparring bouts and matched her written test scores. There was an unexplainable thrill at being chased by someone who could overtake her if she gave him an inch of leeway.

Recently, their taijutsu battles were anyone's fight. Even with her blend of martial arts styles making textbook blocks and counters harder to use, he outmaneuvered her over half the time, and he had been working on widening the gap in skill he'd made between them. Over the last few weeks, she either tied with him or lost, with a solid win on a good day for her. It was both frustrating and exciting, a reaction that no one else could consistently get from her. Sasuke was an opponent she had no choice but to respect...when he wasn't surrounded by infatuated girls or being challenged by jealous boys.

As if on cue, Sakura and Ino stampeded into the classroom, arguing about who 'won' their race. Hinata closed her eyes and said nothing. Sakura was book smart and had strong chakra control, but her actual chakra reserves were shallow. Probably because her physical skills weren't up to par. She knew how to throw a correct punch or kick, and where to grab and subdue an opponent, but there wasn't enough speed or consistent power behind her strikes to be very threatening. In summary, Sakura had no particular specialty in any category. Ino was somewhat better all around, but the Yamanaka's secret technique that she knew was slow and risky without a way to keep the target from escaping, and the Byakugan's chakra sensing vision made it too predictable to use one on one.

Every other kunoichi in training ranked somewhere below Sakura and Ino, so there wasn't much competition for the top student in that area. Hinata didn't have anything against them personally, but it still rubbed her the wrong way seeing people not putting as much effort into every part of their training in favor of trying to get the attention of someone. Hinata couldn't get the concept of crushes. They seemed more emotionally exhausting than they were worth, but maybe she just wasn't old enough?

After enduring their fight for a few more minutes, she finally had enough to do something about it. She grabbed their attention with the unpleasant sound of her scraping across the floor as it was pushed away from the desk. Hinata stood up and walked towards them. They watched her in tense silence until she paused in front of them.

"Uh..." Ino recovered first, putting on a smile. She was always a good mediator when she wanted to be. "Hinata! How nice of you to join us! What brings you over here?" Hinata tried not to be rude towards the forced cheerfulness in Ino's tone. Reading facial cues and body language just made it easier for her to see how unnerved she made people in times like this. She wasn't trying to scare her classmates away.

"Would you mind quieting down?" Hinata did her best to sound as calm as possible without showing weakness, but good intentions only went so far. Ino still froze up like a knife had been drawn on her. Were they still thinking about last week's matches? She believed she wasn't that harsh during the spars, but her standards for harsh were evidently skewed. Iruka-sensei ended up telling her to ease up a little during his critiques. Sure, Sakura was pretty winded after taking a stray open palm to the torso, but she also made sure to apologize.

"Er, of course! We had no idea we were disrupting you!" Ino rubbed the back of her head and dragged a very quiet Sakura off to a seat. "We can finish this later, Forehead." Sakura came back to life again.

"Who are you calling a forehead, Pig?"

"Oh, shut up!" They were bickering again, but they at least whispered their insults this time. Good enough. Hinata watched them sit at separate desks before going back to her own spot. The room was relatively peaceful again until Naruto started in on Sasuke.

Hinata wondered why the class clown was still in the room and how he had a headband. Didn't he fail the testing? He hadn't mastered all three of the basic techniques they were required to know. It took him two long years to just get the Transformation technique down, and during their most recent practice about two weeks ago, Naruto failed to produce a single usable Clone.

It was sad to watch, considering he could burn enough chakra to create a whole platoon of illusions if he actually knew what he was doing. It was strange how someone who played practical jokes and goofed off all day had far larger chakra reserves than the rest of the class. Naruto was the only student who could flare his chakra to the point of being visible to the naked eye. Was it just genetics?

Other than that, he was a hyperactive slacker that everyone paid no serious attention to, with grades that were only better than Shikamaru's. And since Shikamaru purposely slept through all his tests, beating him meant that you put in a bare minimum effort. Hinata was only aware of Naruto because of his disruptions in class and hearing people complain. Iruka-sensei walked in just then, reading a set of notes pinned to his clipboard.

"Naruto! Get off that desk and sit down!" he bellowed after looking up. Naruto groaned and hopped down to take the spot beside Sasuke. The rest of the class settled down when he yelled for some order. Iruka cleared his throat. "Alright, now that all of this year's grades are finalized, I can announce our top student." He flipped through his papers. "And by a margin of a few points, it's Sasuke Uchiha! Congratulations." A short round of applause filled the room, along with a few boos or groans, as Sasuke gave Iruka a respectful nod. Naruto pouted and sunk lower in his chair. "The rest of your scores, in order of highest to lowest, will be posted on the back bulletin board. And now for team assignments..."

There was some speculative chatter as Iruka found his list. Some people didn't even realize that teams would be assigned until just then. Hinata did know beforehand, but she didn't focus much on how Genin were divided into squads of three. It seemed more important to secure the rank itself first than worry about teams. This meant that she would be stuck with two people in this room until one of them was promoted again or dropped out.

"Team One is..." Iruka began to call out names. Hinata chose to let the subject go, realizing that worrying about it was pointless. They wouldn't saddle her with an incompetent person, right? Then the entire team's efficiency would drop and they would no longer be balanced out. Hinata forced herself to calm down. A Hyuga shouldn't accidentally project their inner thoughts. Self control was an important part of-

"Team Seven is...Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga..." What? All thoughts of composure ended as she processed what that meant, sitting up straighter. As soon as it sank in, she stared down at her desktop, glaring holes through it while her bangs hid her face.

Why? What was the point of pairing her up with the boy who couldn't make a single clone right? Why not Shino, or Kiba, or… Iruka cleared his throat again, quieting everyone. "And Sasuke Uchiha."

Or Sasuke? She looked up in time to see Sasuke jump from apathy to pure shock, and then to what was probably quiet resignation. This was an interesting arrangement. "Team Eight is Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame." Sakura looked disappointed, while Kiba didn't seem too bothered. Shino was as difficult to read as always. He kept most of his face covered, so Hinata had nothing but his voice to work with and he didn't talk much either. "Team Ten is Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi. That should be everyone, any questions?"

"Sensei, why does an awesome ninja like me have to be paired with a guy like him? Can he get moved or something?" Naruto asked, pointing a finger at Sasuke.

"As I just said, Sasuke had the highest scores in the class, and you had the worst. To make your group even in overall skill level, you were paired together."

"Just don't get in my way, loser." Sasuke said. He didn't bother looking in Naruto's direction as the other boy growled.

"What did you just say?"

"That's enough! You'll be working together, and changes are not allowed," Iruka said. "After the break period, you will meet your Jounin leaders. Class dismissed. Congratulations on becoming ninja." People began to file out, Naruto and Sasuke included, but Hinata stayed put as she tried to work out the logic behind her team.

Balance? How was this balanced at all? If their squad slowed down for Naruto, how could they progress? How would she continue to get stronger? If she wasn't training as hard as possible, then she was getting weaker, and that wasn't an option. Having weakness meant failure was imminent, and Hinata was not a failure anymore.

Doubt crept up on her. She had learned how to shake it off and lock it away, but it was never really gone. If she let it take over, she'd lose all of the progress she made strengthening her will.

Of course she was still strong. Sasuke may have gotten the upper hand, but she could always make up for it with more effort. It was all about practice and discipline. The fresh cuts and bruises on her palms from yesterday's training drills stung even beneath the wraps she always wore and the medical salves she had applied to them, but she could push herself a little further. There was always more she could do.

Her hands clenched before she released them, letting out a slow breath. Hinata stood up and walked out the door, intent on having lunch, and then running through a short set of exercises when she had time left over. Any unhelpful thoughts were pushed aside in favor of her comfortable routine. The one factor that she had complete control over was always herself. Everything else would come together.