Hinata HyugaTime: Shortly after the First Exam.Location: Ichiraku Ramen, Konohagakure.
"I'm just saying, you owe me big time." Naruto pointed his chopsticks at Hinata with a smug grin. He swallowed a mouthful of noodles. "If I hadn't been there to catch that invisible piece of paper, you would've looked totally ridiculous."
Hinata took a polite sip of her tea. "You looked like you were going to pass out from stress before the paper landed in your lap, Naruto. I think we can say you're in my debt."
"No way! I had it completely under control! I would've figured out the answers eventually, you know!"
"You were gripping the desk so hard I could hear it creak from across the room."
"That was someone else's desk!"
"Naruto. I have eyes that can see through walls."
He opened and closed his mouth. He shoved more ramen into it instead. Hinata thought that was the wisest choice he'd made all morning.
If Hinata had to rate her overall experience at the first test, she'd call it just bad. Two hours in an enclosed space with eighty teenagers experiencing serious stress. None of them had apparently bathed in the last week. The room lacked adequate ventilation. She spent a significant portion of the exam breathing through her sleeve.
They sat in a row at the counter of Ichiraku Ramen. The small, steaming stall offered the exact relaxation they needed after two hours trapped with enemy ninjas. The air smelled of rich pork broth and soy sauce. The midday sun cast sharp light across the worn wooden counter.
A few feet down the counter, Sasuke methodically worked his way through a bowl of plain miso ramen. He looked deep in thought. His chopsticks moved with disciplined economy. Hinata decided that was either a very admirable quality or a sign of something deeply sad.
On the counter directly between Hinata and Naruto, Kaguya sat with her tail wrapped neatly around her pristine white paws. Teuchi had tried to offer her a small bowl of leftover fish scraps. Kaguya took one look at the bowl, looked up at Teuchi, and let out a sound of deep, personal offense. The old man actually apologized. He apologized to a cat instinctively, the way you apologize to someone who clearly outranks you.
He carefully sliced a premium cut of roasted chashu pork onto a clean ceramic plate.
"Here you go, little lady," Teuchi said, setting the plate down with a warm chuckle. "Only the best for a ninja cat."
Kaguya leaned forward and sniffed the pork. She sniffed it a second time. Then she sniffed from a slightly different angle.
This is acceptable, her voice echoed smoothly in Hinata's mind. The peasant understands his place in the hierarchy. You should bring me here more often, human. Hmm… I will require the pork sliced thinner next time. Warmer too.
Hinata sighed quietly into her tea.
"How come she gets the premium pork for free?" Naruto complained, gesturing wildly with his chopsticks. A small droplet of broth landed on Sasuke's sleeve. Sasuke looked at the droplet. He looked at Naruto. He didn't say anything. That somehow felt worse than if he had spoken. "I've been coming here for years! Years, old man! I'm basically family!"
"Because she has the looks, Naruto," Ayame called out from the back, laughing as she wiped down a cutting board. "Who could refuse such a beautiful lady?"
"What?! Then I'm beautiful too!" Naruto said.
A pause settled over the ramen stall.
"You are very beautiful, Naruto," Teuchi said diplomatically.
Sasuke set his chopsticks down. He turned his head and looked at Hinata with visible curiosity.
"I have a question," Sasuke said, his voice dropping to a low, serious register. "How exactly did you do it?"
Hinata blinked. "Do what?"
"Create the phantom mirage." Sasuke frowned. "I saw the chakra density when it hit my shoe. The paper itself was completely invisible. Visual genjutsu requires an active connection to the target's nervous system. I can't understand how you produced such a result from an elemental release alone."
Hinata set her teacup down. She smiled brightly. She was actually very proud of the physics behind it.
"Oh, it is simple," Hinata said, waving with both hands in the way she did when she was genuinely excited about an explanation. "Light travels in waves. Well, it is more accurate to say that it sometimes travels in waves and sometimes it travels in particles, and that really depends on how you are observing it, which is a whole other conversation. But the important part is this. We see objects because photons bounce off those objects and hit our retinas. So I used a highly concentrated, localized field of Yang and Fire chakra to alter the refractive index of the air surrounding the paper. By bending the ambient photons, which were already traveling in a wave-like pattern, in a perfect cover around the object, the light waves continued along their path without ever making contact with the paper itself. It created a zero-reflection void. To the human eye, it just looked like nothing. Like empty space. Our brains and senses aren’t really calibrated to notice that kind of interaction because it doesn’t happen naturally. My Byakugan lets me see this empty space regardless of which part of the visible spectrum I am bending."
Sasuke stared at her.
"Right," Sasuke said finally. He picked up his chopsticks and turned his head back to his bowl. "Never mind."
"I can draw a diagram if it would help."
"It wouldn't."
"I think it would, actually. I have a piece of paper right here."
"Hinata."
"It would only take a minute."
"I'm going to eat my ramen now."
Naruto slurped his broth loudly and pointed at her with a piece of fish on the end of his chopstick. "I didn't understand a single word you just said, Hinata. But it sounds super cool!"
"Thanks, Naruto."
"Like, the kind of cool where I'm not even sure if you're a ninja or a wizard."
"I'm a ninja."
"Are you sure?"
"Reasonably sure?"
Did the celestial gambler thing make her a wizard? She thought about it for a second. Nah It just made her a gambler.
The peace of the ramen stand offered a welcome comfort. Hinata knew it was temporary. They had a few hours before the second phase of the exams began. She needed to enjoy the quiet while it lasted. She paid for their meals, offered Teuchi a polite bow, and gathered her team to head toward Training Ground 44.
Kaguya remained seated on the counter and watched them stand.
You didn't finish your tea, she observed.
"We have to go."
You also left some broth in your bowl.
"Kaguya."
I'm simply noting inefficiencies.
Hinata picked up the cat, tucked her under one arm, and walked out of the stall.
Time: Two hours later.Location: Outside the Forest of Death.
The massive, rusted chain-link fence surrounding Forest of Death stretched up into the sky like a very serious warning. Behind the steel wire, the forest formed a dense wall of twisted trees and oppressive shadows. The air coming off the foliage smelled of rot and damp earth. It smelled like a place where the food chain had sorted itself out a long time ago.
Most of the assembled Genin were staring at it with wide eyes.
Hinata stared at it too, but for a different reason. She was scanning the crowd with her Byakugan. She wasn't worried about the genin surrounding her. She was worried about the freaking snake waiting for them. He had been disturbingly easy to spot, even in disguise. His sickly, grey-tinged chakra pathways stood out clearly. His joints bent a few degrees further than human joints were built to bend. Once you knew what you were looking for, Orochimaru was about as subtle as a firework in a library. He probably thought no one noticed him in the exam room. She spotted him within the first ten minutes. She spent the rest of the hour deciding what she was going to do about it.
She hadn't managed to arrive at a satisfying answer yet.
Anko Mitarashi stood in front of the locked gates with her hands on her hips. She wore an expression that Hinata recognized as someone who treated other people's fear as entertainment. She looked like a shark that had just discovered a boat full of surfers.
"Welcome to the second phase of the Chunin Exams!" Anko shouted. "This is Training Ground 44. Also known as the Forest of Death! You're all about to find out exactly why it earned that name."
A ripple of nervous murmuring moved through the genin.
Naruto crossed his arms and snorted. "Forest of Death? Please. You can't scare us with a stupid name like that. It's just a bunch of trees!"
On Hinata's shoulder, Kaguya opened one yellow eye.
Anko's grin widened. She moved faster than most genin in the crowd could track. Her hand blurred toward a pouch at her hip. A kunai left her fingertips in a smooth arc, slicing through the air directly toward Naruto's face. It was meant to graze his cheek. It was a classic demonstration of precision and dominance. She wanted to put the loudmouth in his place and remind the rest of the crowd exactly who was in charge.
The kunai never reached him.
Kaguya was perched on Hinata's shoulder, directly beside Naruto's head. Without standing up, the white cat waved a single paw.
Clang.
She swatted the heavy steel kunai cleanly out of the air. It looked like she was swatting a fly that had the audacity to approach her face at breakfast. The kunai spun away and embedded itself in the dirt three feet from Anko's boots. The cat then brought her paw to her mouth and began grooming it with unhurried strokes. She was completely unbothered by the deadly weapon she had just deflected.
The entire crowd of genin went absolutely dead silent.
Anko froze. Her grin faltered. She stared at the cat, then at the kunai in the dirt. Her jaw dropped open for a fraction of a second. This was unexpected for Anko Mitarashi, a woman who had trained under a legendary Sannin and survived things that would break seasoned jonin. She snapped her mouth shut.
"What the hell’s wrong with your pet?" Anko demanded, pointing a finger at Hinata.
"She doesn't really like getting threatened," Hinata offered as politely as she could.
"That's a cat."
"Yup."
I don't appreciate having objects thrown in my general direction, Kaguya announced in Hinata's mind. Her mental voice carried the tone of someone composing a very formal letter of complaint. The woman is loud. She is dressed in a way that suggests she lost a bet. Please inform her that if she tries that again, I'll aim for her eyes instead.
Hinata decided to keep that particular message to herself.
Anko stared at the cat for another long moment. She was clearly doing some kind of rapid internal recalculation. She cleared her throat and straightened her coat. She recovered her dramatic flair with a huff of annoyance, choosing to pretend the last fifteen seconds hadn't happened.
She began distributing the liability waivers.
The document was two pages long. The second page was mostly composed of legally specific language about rescue teams and the village's position on retrieving bodies.
Sasuke signed his form without looking up from it. He handed it back with the expression of a person who had already decided all the relevant risks, didn’t matter a lick to him.
Naruto stared at his form for four seconds. He turned it sideways as though a different orientation might change what it said. He signed it with a dramatic slash of the pen.
Hinata read hers carefully. She noted the three separate clauses that were legally interesting in ways the village probably hoped no one would notice. She signed it and handed it back with a polite smile.
She received their Earth Scroll and slipped it into the hidden interior pocket of her tactical vest. She clicked the magnetic catch closed and turned to face the gates.
Kaguya took one look at the terrain visible through the chain-link fence. Swampy, waterlogged ground stretched away into the shadows. Shallow pools of standing water reflected dim light between the roots of massive trees. The mud was the deep, sucking kind that grabbed your boots and held them.
The cat went very still.
Absolutely not.
Hinata paused mid-step. What do you mean?
Look at that, Kaguya replied. It is entirely composed of mud. The water is murky. The ground is sodden. I won't walk through that. I won't get mud between my toes. I'm a creature of celestial origin and considerable dignity, Hinata. I have standards.
You're a cat, Hinata pointed out. Cats go outside.
I go where I choose to go. I choose not to go into that swamp.
It isn't a swamp. It's a forest.
If it smells like a swamp, it's a swamp.
Hinata looked at the gates. She looked at her cat. She thought about trying to argue. She realized she rarely won arguments against Kaguya.
If you stay out here, what will you do?
I'll terrorize the proctors, Kaguya said. Her tone suggested she found the prospect quite pleasant. I will knock their paperwork off surfaces. I will sit directly on their most important documents. I will groom myself on top of their emergency communication scrolls. I am very good at being inconvenient. They may even disqualify you out of spite, which would be embarrassing for everyone involved.
Hinata let out a long breath through her nose.
She unzipped the front of her tactical jacket and adjusted the straps of her vest until the fabric of the jacket formed a deep, functional pouch against her chest. It wasn't elegant. It looked exactly like a baby carrier.
Kaguya leaped from her shoulder and settled into the sling with a satisfied air. She rested her front paws over the top of the zipper and arranged her tail.
This is acceptable, the cat pronounced. You look ridiculous, by the way.
I know.
Naruto walked up, took in the scene, and completely failed to keep his face neutral. He started laughing loudly, clutching his stomach and pointing.
"Are you wearing a baby carrier for your cat?!" He wheezed. "Are you really wearing a baby carrier for your cat into the death forest?!"
"She has very strong feelings about mud, Naruto," Hinata said calmly. "Let's just get to our gate."
Sasuke walked past both of them without comment. The slight tension at the corner of his mouth suggested he was trying very hard not to smile.
The gates slammed shut behind them. The noise echoed into the canopy and the forest swallowed it. The air was filled with the heavy silence of a place that had been alive for a very long time.
The canopy above was incredibly dense. What little sunlight made it through hit the mist near the ground and turned the shadows strange. The air was thick with moisture and pollen.
Sasuke dropped into a low crouch the moment the gates closed. He drew a kunai and scanned the brush in a methodical sweep. "Formation B. Naruto, take the rear flank. Hinata, stay in the center. We need to find high ground and locate a team with a Heaven Scroll. Stay sharp."
"Got it," Naruto murmured. He pulled a shuriken from his holster and held it ready.
Kaguya surveilled the surrounding forest from her position in the chest carrier. One of her ears rotated toward a sound from the left. She said nothing. Hinata took that to mean there wasn't an immediate threat.
They moved through the first sector carefully. Sasuke and Naruto took the outer positions while Hinata navigated from the center. She swept the surrounding area with her Byakugan every few minutes. She tracked the direction Orochimaru's team had moved before the gates closed, but they had already passed beyond reliable range. She'd find them again. She just needed to be patient.
About thirty minutes in, the canopy directly above them erupted.
A massive crashing sound moved through the upper branches. Leaves rained down. A branch as thick as Naruto's waist snapped completely. Sasuke's Sharingan blazed to life. Naruto crossed his fingers, ready to summon clones.
A gargantuan, thirty-foot-long tiger dropped out of the canopy.
It hit the forest floor with a concussive thud that sent a shockwave through the mud beneath their boots. The beast was covered in thick, jagged scars. Its fangs were the approximate length of Sasuke's short sword. Its glowing yellow eyes locked onto Team 7 with calm focus.
It opened its mouth and released a roar. It felt more like a physical event than a sound. It traveled straight through Hinata's chest.
Sasuke raised his kunai and took a step forward. "Naruto, get ready to move!"
"Wait," Hinata said.
She stepped out of the formation. She walked around Sasuke's extended arm and moved toward the tiger directly. She kept her hands open and empty at her sides. She approached at the calm pace of someone greeting a large neighborhood dog.
"Hinata!" Sasuke grabbed for her shoulder and missed. "Are you completely insane?!"
Hinata engaged her Talk with Animals perk. She felt the familiar shift in her perception and stopped a few feet from the enormous predator.
"Excuse me, mister tiger?" she said in a cheerful tone. "I'm so sorry to bother you while you're hunting. This is your territory and we really don't want to intrude. Have you happened to see any human teams pass through this area recently? We're trying to find our way to the river."
Sasuke and Naruto stood completely motionless behind her.
The tiger stopped. It blinked its massive yellow eyes. It tilted its huge head to one side. To Sasuke and Naruto, the following sounds were just deep rumbles. To Hinata, the translation arrived warm and polite.
Oh, my deepest apologies, young lady. I didn't mean to startle you. The tiger settled back onto its haunches. You're quite polite for a two-legger. The others who come through here just attack me the moment I appear. No greeting at all. It's really quite rude.
"I think they find you frightening," Hinata offered.
I'm merely saying hello, the tiger said with genuine puzzlement. I can't help my volume. He turned his enormous head to examine her more closely. What is that you're carrying in your jacket, if you don't mind my asking? It smells like something very small that thinks very highly of itself.
Kaguya's head rotated toward the tiger with slow, deliberate dignity. She looked at the thirty-foot apex predator from her position in the chest sling and then looked away again.
The tiger blinked. Is that a cat?
"Yes."
You have a cat.
"She prefers not to get her paws muddy."
The tiger processed this. I see, he said finally.
"You mentioned teams passing through?" Hinata prompted gently.
Yes, of course. A team from the Rain Village went scurrying past the riverbed not long ago. Perhaps ten minutes. They smelled very nervous and were moving quickly to the east. He raised one massive paw and indicated the direction. Precisely that way, just past the split cedar tree. You can't miss it.
"Thank you so much," Hinata said, smiling warmly. "That's incredibly helpful. I hope we haven't disrupted your afternoon too much."
Not at all. The tiger made a rumbling sound of contentment. It's a pleasure to speak with a polite young person. Lovely weather we're having today. The humidity is excellent for my joints.
"It really is," Hinata agreed. "Good luck with your hunt!"
A pleasure meeting you. Hunt safely out there!
The apex predator gave her a friendly nod. He turned around with dignified grace and bounded back into the thick brush. The only evidence he had been there was the broken branch overhead and four enormous paw prints in the mud.
Hinata turned back to her team. "The Rain team went east about ten minutes ago. If we hurry, we can probably catch them before they cross the river. She pointed. Just past a split cedar."
Naruto's arm was still raised from when he had been about to throw the shuriken. He was staring at the brush where the tiger had vanished.
"You asked a giant tiger," Naruto said slowly. "For directions."
"He was very helpful."
"That was a thirty-foot tiger, Hinata."
"He was also very polite. You shouldn't judge people by their appearance."
"He isn't a people! He's a giant tiger!"
Hinata began walking east. "I know. He had lovely manners for a giant tiger."
Naruto turned to Sasuke. Sasuke was standing very still, looking at a point in the middle distance. He had spent the last three weeks doing agonizing resistance training. He had optimized his supply kit and practiced combat scenarios in his sleep. His teammate had just gotten reconnaissance intel from a local predator by being polite to it.
"I hate you," Sasuke said to the universe in general. "I genuinely hate what you do and what you are."
Hinata laughed and adjusted Kaguya in her jacket. "Let's go get that scroll."
She took to the trees, and after a moment of silent suffering, her team followed.
Time: Forty-five minutes into the Exam.Location: A muddy riverbank, Forest of Death.
The air grew thick as they approached the water. A grey mist had settled near the river's edge. The roaring current drowned out the sounds of a team moving into combat range. Hinata didn't need sound.
"Byakugan," she whispered. The veins around her temples pulsed gently. She swept her vision through the mist and down below the waterline. She smiled. "Found them. They're setting up an ambush. Three water clones are hiding in the mist. The real bodies are submerged twenty meters upstream, breathing through hollow reeds." She paused. "The one on the left has a Heaven Scroll in his breast pocket."
Sasuke smirked. "Let me flush them out."
He vanished into the canopy. He moved with a speed that proved those three weeks of training hadn't been for nothing. She watched through her Byakugan as he moved silently through the upper branches. A spool of ninja wire unraveled from his hand as he positioned himself upstream.
"Lightning Release."
The crack of electricity lit the river blue-white for half a second. The high-voltage current surged down the wire and hit the water. The three Rain Genin shrieked and burst to the surface. They gasped and flailed in a very undignified manner.
"My turn!" Naruto yelled, already airborne. He crossed his fingers mid-leap. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Six copies of him materialized in a burst of smoke. They grabbed the original Naruto in a coordinated movement and swung him forward.
"Wind Release. Gale Palm!"
The compressed blast of air added to his trajectory. He crossed the river instantly and connected feet-first with the chest of the nearest Rain Genin. The impact sent the boy entirely out of the water and several meters up the muddy bank. The clones followed like a wave, swarming the remaining two disoriented enemies. They pinned them to the ground before either could reach a weapon.
The leader of the Rain team was coughing river water, face-down in the mud, one hand weakly reaching for his holster.
Hinata landed softly beside his head. She tapped two glowing fingers against the tenketsu cluster at the base of his neck. His eyes rolled back. His body went limp.
She reached into his breast pocket and removed a pristine Heaven Scroll.
"Well," Hinata said, tossing it once and catching it with a satisfied smile. "That was incredibly easy."
Sasuke dropped from the trees. He looked at the three paralyzed, waterlogged Genin scattered across the riverbank. There was no dramatic tension here. They had just dismantled an opposing team with minimal effort.
He dusted off his hands. "They relied entirely on a cheap environmental trick and telegraphed their positions to anyone with decent visual range." His voice was flat with dismissal. "Pathetic."
"They tried," Hinata said. It was the nicest thing she could honestly say.
Naruto dispelled his clones with a triumphant grin. "We have both scrolls! Earth and Heaven, right here! We could just walk straight to the tower and be the first ones done! First ones in the whole exam!"
"We shouldn't rush," Hinata said. She tucked the Heaven Scroll securely next to the Earth Scroll in her vest pocket and clicked the catch closed. "We have both scrolls and plenty of time. Rushing straight to the center means walking into a bottleneck of desperate teams. We should find a secure location, recover our chakra, and move to the tower when we're ready."
Sasuke considered this for a second. "Agreed. Find us somewhere defensible."
Hinata activated her Byakugan and began scanning the surrounding forest. She moved her vision outward in expanding rings. She searched for places where large predators held territory. Animals were better scouts than any sensor-type in the exams.
She knew exactly what to do.
Time: Three hours into the Exam.Location: A scenic clearing, Forest of Death.
Hinata had been told that Training Ground 44 was designed to break the minds of the genin who entered it. Starvation arrived around the eighteen-hour mark. Hallucinations from leeches started around hour twenty. The psychological weight of being hunted by dozens of competitors was something even experienced shinobi found difficult to manage.
Team 7 was currently experiencing none of those things.
They were having a nice afternoon outside.
It had started with the squirrels.
Hinata had spotted the colony in the upper canopy while she was scanning for a safe route. She had activated Talk with Animals, looked up, and politely asked for directions.
The response was enthusiastic.
Oh! Oh, yes! There's a clearing! Three hundred meters south-southeast and then left at the big roots! The spring is clean! None of the big teeth-things come near there because of the bears!
"The bears?" Hinata asked.
The big brown territorial ones! No one goes in there except them! You should go! There are berries!
"Are the berries safe to eat?"
The dark ones are good! The red ones are good! The purple ones are NOT good. Avoid those completely.
"Understood," Hinata said. "Thank you so much."
You're welcome! You smell friendly! Most two-leggers smell like stress and weapons oil!
Hinata had then found the bears.
There were four of them. They were enormous, territorial, and the reason the beautiful sunlit clearing remained unbothered by other ninja. The largest one, a female with a notch in her left ear, watched Hinata approach with deep suspicion.
Hinata stopped at a respectful distance and activated her ability. "Good afternoon. I'm sorry to enter your territory. I don't want to cause any trouble. I was hoping I might ask a favor."
The large female regarded her for a long moment. You are small, she observed.
"Yes."
Most of the small two-leggers who come in here run away.
"I don't have anywhere to run. I'm in a forest full of people who want my scroll."
The bear considered this. What is the favor.
"My team and I would like to rest in this clearing for a few hours," Hinata said. "We have both of the scrolls we need, so we don't need to fight anyone. We just need a safe place to recover. I was wondering if you'd let us stay here. We'll stay out of your way, we won't touch your food sources, and we'll leave before sundown."
The bear stared at her. She turned and looked at the other bears.
You are very polite, the female said finally.
"I try to be."
What is that in your jacket.
"A cat." Hinata responed, "She doesn't like mud."
The bear regarded Kaguya. Kaguya regarded the bear back with professional indifference.
Tell the cat, the bear said, that she is welcome in our territory. We have no issue with cats but if you are carrying squirrels, you should disclose it now.
Hinata shook her head and relayed the message. Kaguya received it with a dignified dip of her chin.
We will patrol, the female bear said. No two-leggers will come near this clearing while we are moving. You may stay until the light changes.
"Thank you," Hinata said. "Thank you very much."
We didn't do it for you, the bear clarified. We don't like strangers in our territory regardless. We're simply being practical.
"Of course," Hinata agreed.
But you may have some berries, the bear added. The dark ones are good. Don't touch the purple ones.
"The squirrels mentioned those."
The squirrels, the bear said in a tone that conveyed an entire complicated history. Yes. They would.
An hour after entering the Forest of Death, Team 7 was sitting around a cheerful campfire in a sunlit clearing. They were flanked by four giant territorial bears who had effectively become their perimeter security detail.
Naruto sat cross-legged on a patch of moss. He was rotating a speared fish over the fire with careful attention. He hummed a tuneless song to himself.
Sasuke leaned against the trunk of an old tree. He ate a handful of fresh blackberries from a leaf. His shoulders had dropped, and his constant vigilance had dialed down to something approaching rest. He watched the two younger bears wrestle in the grass.
Hinata sat closest to the fire with Kaguya in her lap. She worked a fine-toothed brush through the cat's fur with careful strokes. Kaguya purred with total satisfaction.
It was peaceful. It was genuinely pleasant.
"You know," Naruto said, pulling his perfectly cooked fish from the fire, "everyone said this exam was going to be a total nightmare. Haunted forest, no rescue teams, you might get eaten." He took a large bite. "But this is honestly the best camping trip I've ever been on."
"To be fair," Hinata said, "the exam is still happening to everyone else."
"Yeah, but not to us." Naruto gestured at their campfire and their bear security detail. "We've got a fire, we've got food, those bears are hilarious, and no one is going to come near us. This is great."
Sasuke popped a blackberry into his mouth. He looked out at the bears. "It isn't what I expected," Sasuke said. "But I'm not going to complain."
"We make a pretty good team," Hinata said, smiling at the firelight playing across their faces.
"The best," Naruto agreed immediately. He pointed at both of them with his empty stick. "When I become Hokage, I'm going to make sure we still go on missions together. I don't care how busy I get."
Sasuke snorted softly. "If you become Hokage, you'll be trapped behind a desk signing paperwork all day. I'll have to drag you out of the office myself."
"I'll be a cool Hokage! I'll do my paperwork incredibly fast."
"You can't even do your regular mission reports incredibly fast."
"That's because mission reports are boring. Hokage paperwork will be different."
"Naruto. It will be the exact same paperwork."
"Then I'll hire someone!"
"You can't hire someone to be Hokage for you."
"For the paperwork part!"
"That's called a secretary. You'd still have to read everything they prepared before you signed it."
Naruto considered this. "Okay. I'll hire a very good secretary."
Sasuke ate another blackberry. Hinata laughed. For a little while, the weight of everything she knew lifted. She wasn't thinking about curse marks or betrayals. She was just a girl by a fire with her friends and a purring cat.
It was a good feeling. She wanted to remember it exactly.
Then the woods went completely silent.
Hinata stopped laughing.
The birds stopped mid-note. The cicadas cut out. The constant background hum of the living forest simply stopped. One of the young bears froze mid-wrestling. Both of them went very still, their ears pinned flat against their skulls. The large female vanished into the deep brush without a sound.
A frantic, terrified voice erupted in Hinata's mind. One of the canopy squirrels.
SNAKES. SNAKES SNAKES SNAKES. THEY SMELL WRONG. THEY SMELL LIKE POISON. RUN. RUN NOW. WE ARE RUNNING.
A massive, unnatural wind swept through the clearing.
It hit like a physical blow. Cold and violent. The campfire went out instantly.
The clearing plunged into heavy shadow.
A pressure built in the air like the feeling before a lightning strike, but much more deliberate. It pressed against Hinata's chest and lungs. Killing Intent. It felt different from Zabuza's sharp blade or Gaara's consuming void. This felt like standing at the edge of a grave dug specifically for her, knowing the gravedigger was still holding the shovel.
Sasuke was on his feet in a fraction of a second. He had a kunai in each hand and his Sharingan blazed crimson in the sudden dark. Naruto dropped his fish stick and was up beside him, his blue eyes wide and scanning the tree line.
Kaguya was still in Hinata's lap. The cat had stopped purring. She was absolutely motionless, her yellow eyes fixed on the edge of the clearing. She was afraid.
"Scatter!" Hinata yelled. She grabbed Kaguya and surged backward from the dead fire. The ground beneath where the fire had been cracked, heaved, and violently split open.
The peaceful afternoon was gone.
The exam had finally found them.
Author’s Note:-
Hmm, Orochimaru gets introduced here, and we get some more banter between the teams. It could have been longer but exams mean I don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to it right now. Thanks for reading!