The years passed quickly for the Hyuuga twins, both began to grow at an alarming rate, as most children do as they reach their teenage years, Haran was quickly approaching five feet, and his academy graduation was just around the corner! Hinata had made her way towards four feet eight inches, with probably another five or six inches before she quit growing, a healthy size for a kunoichi. Haran had firmly cemented himself as the foremost practitioner of the jyuken style, among the ages of ten to sixteen, being able to defeat other Hyuuga, four years older than himself was a feat that even Neji hadn’t accomplished, though Hiashi figured it wouldn’t be too much longer before the genius of the branch family, and the genius without a family were destined to fight for supremacy.
Hinata had also progressed well in the family art, just not as far as Haran; of course, having to constantly hide her true abilities, being a bit behind wasn’t always bad. She was always training with Hanabi, who was now almost seven, and would be entering the academy shortly. Hiashi had assured them that they were as powerful as Neji was, and that the only difference that should exist between them, was the differences in jounin instructors.
Hinata’s grades in school were contrasting with her brothers, his were in the lower quartile, and hers, the upper, but that was by design. The twins were aiming to be on the same gennin team, and this was the only way to guarantee that.
The main reason that Haran’s grades were so low, was due to his own training schedule, and his weekly visits to see his mother, who hadn’t gotten any better in the nearly six years since he began visiting her. He chuckled silently to himself whenever he would overhear Ino or Sakura talk about “this really cute guy who we saw…once…about five years ago…” It was quite comical actually; even when they tried to catch him again, he simply did the easy thing, and got the flowers delivered to the hospital where he would pick them up.
It was the day before the academy exit exam to become gennin and all the members of the graduating class were feeling the stress of the times. A few amongst the hopeful children weren’t under as much pressure as the others. Aburame Shino was sure he could pass the exam, as long as the test covered the information the teachers had given, he would pass. Uchiha Sasuke was also sure he would pass, although that was more because he was a bit arrogant, and not because he was thinking clearly. Nara Shikamaru wasn’t thinking much at all, while his best friend Akimichi Chouji wasn’t worried one way or the other. The twins weren’t worried in the least, their father had told them repeatedly over the past few years that they could have taken the test at any time and passed, but they declined, opting to be on a team with a third member that they knew.
That day their sensei, Umino Iruka, was testing them on the basic techniques that they might be tested on for the exam. They had gone over the written portion and were moving onto the actual ninja techniques.
“Alright, we’re going to review the henge (transformation) today, everyone make a line in the front.” He ordered.
The twenty or so students in his section moved to the front of the class and waited for Iruka to call off their names so they could perform the exercise. After a few minutes, and a good number of students, Iruka reached Naruto.
Haran had been using a combination of henge and hair dye along with blue tinted contacts to conceal his identity for the past three and a half years or so, so this wasn’t hard for him in the least. Molding a small amount of chakra, he concentrated hard on the image he wanted to take, before making his move.
“Henge!” He roared, as a large puff of smoke obscured the blond as all the students waited to see what form the class clown would take.
The smoke began to clear, and where an exact replica of Iruka should have been…an exact replica of a naked female Iruka stared at the real teacher, a light blush marring her tan skin.
“Do I pass, Iruka-sensei?” ‘She’ asked in a seductive tone, followed by a healthy amount of eyelash batting.
Iruka, who wasn’t prepared for this at all, immediately was propelled to the ground by a gusher of blood, stemming from his nose. Naruto dropped his transformation and grinned at the twitching sensei.
“How do you like my ‘Sexy no jutsu’? The boy asked, not expecting a response. When he didn’t receive one, he immediately became outraged.
“Iruka-sensei! Don’t tell me you’re turned on by a female version of you! That’s wrong on about seventy or eighty different levels!” This got a laugh from some of the boys, but the entire female population, Hinata included, were shooting him venomous looks that screamed for retribution. Seeing the writing on the wall, Naruto helped his sensei back to his feet and handed the brown haired instructor a couple of tissues to plug his nose with. Once the normally jovial teacher was back and moving, Naruto was forced to flee from the class or else face the wrath of the angry chuunin.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The next day came and brought along the exams. Haran and Hinata weren’t worried about them as they had not only learned the material already but had accumulated enough points throughout their time at the academy that it would take a choke of monumental proportions to drop them from the ranks of graduates.
Fortunately, no such occurrence would happen. Haran passed his exam easily enough and ended up in a good position to be on the same team as his sister, with Either Aburame Shino or Inuzuka Kiba as their teammate. Haran was hoping for Shino, as he could be trusted to keep secrets better than Kiba. The teams wouldn’t be announced until the next day, so the twins went about their normal training schedule.
Haran was heading towards his appointment when he noticed a quick movement out of the corner of his eye. He quickly activated his bloodline and was able to identify Mizuki, another teacher at the academy, making a bee-line towards the edge of Konoha with a large scroll strapped to his back. Haran recognized a seal on the outside of the scroll signifying it as the property of the Hokage and quickly took to the rooftops to intercept the thief. For a chuunin, Mizuki was rather slow; always favoring brawn over swiftness and so Haran was able to catch up after a short chase that put the two in the middle of a forest. Not wanting to waste the first opportunity to take down his target, Haran made a quick decision and threw a kunai in front of his former teacher.
Mizuki’s day was finally looking up. First off, the demon brat had managed to pass the genin exams, thus depriving Mizuki his chance to have the brat steal the scroll for him. Then there was the security around the scroll, it had taken Mizuki a long time for the staff around the Hokage’s office to get used to his appearance late at night so that they would just write him off as a non threat. After escaping from the building he quickly made his way away from the city of Konoha towards the forest where he could escape this prison and join his master. However, his escape was halted by a single kunai that flew in front of him and forced him to slow down for a crucial second. In that moment of hesitation, Haran was able to catch the snow haired sensei from behind in a Hakkeshou: Rokujuu Yonshou that sealed off his chakra flow almost completely. He wouldn’t be able to perform any techniques for quite a while.
Mizuki fell to the ground, out of energy from having his chakra pathways cut off. He felt his attacker remove the scroll of forbidden seals from his back. He felt another sharp strike to a point on his neck and before his world fell into black, he caught a flash of yellow hair.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Haran was sitting next to his sister, his preferred seat of choice for anytime he had to be at the academy, he was waiting for Iruka-sensei to announce the genin teams. After the incident with Mizuki last night, Haran was a touch tired, after a long days work out, but mostly he was excited. In return for stopping a traitor and retrieving the scroll, the Hokage had rewarded the young Hyuuga by promising to teach him the first technique from the scroll, the Kage bunshin no jutsu (Shadow clone technique). Haran didn’t think he needed the technique, but he was always interested in learning new ones. He was daydreaming all through Iruka’s speech and didn’t listen to anything other than his inner ramblings, until Team Seven was announced.
“Team seven, will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Yamanaka Ino. Team Eight, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Uzumaki Naruto. There is already a Team Nine, so we’ll skip them, and Team Ten will be Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Inuzuka Kiba.”
Haran and Hinata’s eyebrows rose when the teams were announced. After the results of the test, they had expected to be teamed up with Shino, while Kiba would go with Sasuke and Sakura. They had also counted on a reformation of the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Not that they weren’t happy with their arrangement, but the pairings were too arranged to be solely based off of grades. The must be another reason that the teams were made as they were. The newly minted genin were given an hour for lunch before they were supposed to meet with their Jounin instructors. The twins followed Shino outside after asking the quiet boy if he wanted to have lunch with them. He was a bit taken by the proximity that the two shared, but brushed it off, coming to the conclusion that Hinata must have told Naruto her feelings.
Lunch was a quiet affair, as no one felt particularly inclined to break the peaceful calm that the three seemed to share. When they finished, the new Team Eight was the first to return to the classroom to meet their new instructor. Iruka was no longer there, but had posted a list on the wall, indicating which instructor was assigned to which team. Team Eight was assigned to one Yuhi Kurenai a newly appointed jounin who specialized in genjutsu.
The reasons for the team assignments became clear to Haran as soon as he saw who was the instructor for Team Seven. Hatake Kakashi was renown throughout the shinobi world as the legendary copy ninja, due to an implanted Sharingan after he lost his own left eye during a mission in the Third Shinobi war.
‘So that’s it, each team isn’t just assigned an instructor by tenure or by choice. Each jounin is paired with a team so that their skills will compliment each other. We are a team of taijutsu specialists, and genjutsu specialists are notoriously weak in taijutsu. We are supposed to help Kurenai sensei with her taijutsu, while she helps us become shinobi.’ Haran realized. ‘Makes sense why Sasuke got two fan girls. Kakashi is supposed to be one of the strongest jounin in the village, so he would be best to train Sasuke and make sure his two teammates don’t die.
As Haran continued to muse about his team placement, Kurenai entered the room to collect her team. Without saying a word, the three new ninja followed their sensei to a small clearing in the small woods right next to the academy.
“Well, how about we introduce ourselves?” Kurenai asked. “I’ll go first so you can get a feel of what I want you guys to know about each other. My name is Yuhi Kurenai; I am a new jounin and a genjutsu specialist. My hobbies…I don’t have too many, I like to hang out in my spare time with my friends; I do like karaoke and singing. I dislike perverts, perverted books and any thing perverted! I like my friends and my sensei, may he rest in peace. My dream for the future is to help you guys become the best shinobi you can.”
Taking the initiative, Haran decided to go first, but under the guise of Naruto.
“My name is Uzumaki Naruto, my likes are ramen and training, I dislike the three minute wait for ramen to cook as well and people who judge others prematurely.” He then slipped a bit of his true personality into this introduction. “I also dislike a certain governing body in this village. My hobbies…I don’t know…eating ramen? Yeah, I’d say that’s my favorite hobby! My dream for the future is to become Hokage and fix some problems in this town!” He finished with a flourish of happiness.
“My name is Hyuuga Hinata…I like to read…and tend to the gardens in the Hyuuga estate…I also dislike people who judge others without knowing them…I dislike my clan council for their role in degrading the members of the branch family.” Her eyes became particularly steely when she said that, showing how serious she was about that statement. “My dream for the future is to become the clan head when my father is unable and change my clan from self destructing.”
Kurenai was a bit surprised by her two student’s admission of outright dislike for some of the governing in the town. Politics was an area that few shinobi got themselves entangled in, especially at their age.
‘I wonder though, which body does Naruto dislike?’
Her musing was cut short by Shino, who had decided to give his own introduction.
“My name is Aburame Shino…I like insects…I dislike those who would harm an insect unnecessarily…I have no hobbies, and I have no specific dream for the future.” His introduction was by far the shortest.
“Well, now that the introductions are out of the way, we can begin the real genin exam.” Kurenai. Her hope that she would receive a little bit of a reaction was slaughtered when not a single one of her charges seemed unnerved by the news. “All right then, follow me.” She grumbled.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Team Eight was lead on a winding walk through town towards the red light district, until they stopped at a small karaoke bar.
“All right, if you weren’t aware, this team is to become a reconnaissance and intelligence gathering unit. Therefore, your test will be a test of those skills. I’ve signed you three up to perform a song, and while you are on stage, you must pay attention to the crowd and find the clue that I have hidden in the room. If you cannot tell me the three clues by the end of your three songs, you will fail and go back to the academy. We’ll do this reverse alphabetically, so Naruto you’re going first.” She informed her team as she led them inside. The only reaction she got from her team was a look of loathing from Naruto, Hinata looked scared, and Shino was emitting a weak buzzing noise.
‘Note to self, never make an Aburame sing karaoke again.’ Kurenai joked to herself.
The four ninja entered the building and Naruto was shoved up towards the small stage in a corner. Looking through the booklet of songs available to sing, he cursed the day he was assigned Kurenai, and vowed to get her back for making him sing. Finally making his selection he stepped up to the podium and took a couple deep breaths to calm himself down and activate his byakugan, scanning for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. A henge was able to mask the ‘veins’ of his chakra pathways expanding, soon his song began to play.
Take, take, take, all my time, all my company
Take everything from me
Fake, fake, fake all these things that you say to me
Nothing that I want to believe
I think the time has come to set it straight
I need to change this frequency
'Cause everyone just says the same old thing to me
Get up!
Get up!
You're shattered crown, it drags me down
'Cause there's no sun when you're around
Your righteous lies, you slip and slide
Now I want you to just
(Fade out)
Static in my stereo man
(Fade out)
A new transmission's calling, here we go!
Say, say, say anything that you want to me
I'm still not gonna agree
I'm not gonna be a part, be a part of this
I'm not what you want me to be.
Because I need some time to set this straight
I'm gonna forward everything I say
Tell everyone to say the same old thing to me.
Get up!
You're shattered crown, it drags me down
'Cause there's no sun when you're around
Your righteous lies, you slip and slide
Now I want you to just
(Fade out)
Static in my stereo man
(Fade out)
A new transmission's calling...
A new transmission's calling, here we go!
Woah... A new transmission
Woah... A new transmission
You're shattered crown, it drags me down
'cause there’s no sun when you're around
Your righteous lies, you slip and slide
Now I want you to just
(Fade out)
Static in my stereo man
(Fade out)
A new transmission's calling...
Change the channel, flick the switches
A new transmission's calling
A new transmission's calling, here we go!
Throughout his performance, Haran had been scanning the room, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. About midway through the song, he spotted what he decided was a clue and made a mental note of it. When he finished, he quickly walked off stage, before Hinata could make more fun of his choice of song. One of his favorite phrases to describe the Hyuuga clan was ‘broken crown’. The clan was once the most powerful in Konoha, but lately had begun to cut its own legs off at the knees with the branch family seal. The fact that the song clearly expressed his desire for a revolution in the clan was also a plus.
Next up was Hinata, who didn’t have a clue what she would sing, but thankfully she didn’t have to worry about finding a clue while she did so. She had been looking around the store with her byakugan as well, and had spotted the object she would present for her evidence. Deciding on a song she shyly stepped up on stage.
This time it wasn’t even an act, she was very self conscious when it came to singing, the only people who had ever had the pleasure of hearing her voice was her immediate family, minus Neji. As her song began she couldn’t help but smile as she realized that this song would do almost the same thing as her brothers, express her wishes through the lyrics.
Love love love love love love
You were everything I wanted
You were everything a girl could be
Then you left me brokenhearted
Now you don't mean a thing to me
All I wanted was your
Love love love love love love
Hate is a strong word
But I really, really, really don't like you
Now that it's over
I don't even know what I liked about you
Brought you around and you just brought me down
Hate is a strong word
But I really, really, really don't like you
I really don't like you
Thought that everything was perfect (perfect)
Isn't that how it's supposed to be?
Thought you thought that I was worth it
Now I think a little differently
All I wanted was your
Love love love love love love
Hate is a strong word
But I really, really, really don't like you
Now that it's over
I don't even know what I liked about you
Brought you around and you just brought me down
Hate is a strong word
But I really, really, really don't like you
I really don't like you
Now that it's over you can't hurt me
Now that it's over you can't bring me down
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
All I wanted was your
Love love love love love love
(Hate) Hate is a strong word
But I really, really, really don't like you (I really don't like you)
Now that it's over
I don't even know what I liked about you (liked about you)
Brought you around and you just brought me down
(Hate) Hate is a strong word
But I really, really, really don't like you
(Oh oh oh oh oh oh)
I really don't like you
(Oh oh oh oh oh oh)
I really don't like you
(Oh oh oh oh oh oh)
I really don't like you
(Oh oh oh oh oh oh)
While it wasn’t as perfect as her brother’s choice, Hinata was happy with her pick, the chorus expressed her sentiments toward the council of her own clan, as well as how she was treated by them. She quickly left the stage to the applause of her brother and sensei. She had a nice voice, but was too shy to use it.
Just like Hinata, Shino had gathered his clue before he had to go on stage, which was good, because he would probably just look for the clue instead of singing, and if Naruto had to sing, than so did Shino. He made his selection the quickest out of the three genin and took the stage.
Give it to me baby. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Give it to me baby. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Give it to me baby. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
And all the girlies say I'm pretty fly
For a white guy.
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, cinco, seis.
You know it's kind of hard
Just to get along today.
Our subject isn't cool,
But he fakes it anyway.
He may not have a clue;
And he may not have style.
But everything he lacks
Well he makes up in denial.
So don't debate, a player straight
You know he really doesn't get it anyway.
He's gonna play the field, and keep it real.
For you no way, for you no way.
So if you don't rate, just overcompensate.
At least you'll know you can always go on Ricki Lake.
The world needs wannabe's.
So (Hey! Hey!) do that brand new thing.
Give it to me baby. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Give it to me baby. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Give it to me baby. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
And all the girlies say I'm pretty fly
For a white guy.
He needs some cool tunes
Not just any will suffice.
But they didn't have Ice Cube
So he bought Vanilla Ice.
Now cruising in his Pinto, he sees homies as he pass.
But if he looks twice
They're gonna kick his lily ass.
So don't debate, a player straight
You know he really doesn't get it anyway.
He's gonna play the field, and keep it real.
For you no way, for you no way.
So if you don't rate, just overcompensate.
At least you'll know you can always go on Ricki Lake.
The world loves wannabe's.
So (Hey! Hey!) do that brand new thing
Now he's getting a tattoo.
Yeah he's gettin' ink done.
He asked for a '13', but they drew a '31'.
Friends say he's trying too hard
And he's not quite hip.
But in his own mind
He's the, he's the dopest trip.
Give it to me baby. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Give it to me baby. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Give it to me baby. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, cinco, seis.
So don't debate, a player straight
You know he really doesn't get it anyway.
He's gonna play the field, and keep it real.
For you no way, for you no way.
So if you don't rate, just overcompensate.
At least you'll know you can always go on Ricki Lake.
The world needs wannabe's.
Oh the world loves wannabe's.
So let's get some more wannabe's.
And (Hey! Hey!) do that brand new thing.
Shino had simply picked this song because it had the word ‘Fly’ in the title. This was one of the many reasons that Aburame’s had never been a big fan of karaoke…or singing…they were tone deaf and had the bad luck of picking songs based on poor criteria. As he exited the stage, the remaining members of his team gave him polite applause, but were vowing never to make the stoic boy sing again. They were laughing so hard on the inside that they had probably punctured some organ.
“W-well, were you able to find the clues?” Kurenai asked, having to stifle a round of laughter, and only barely succeeding.
“The owner has four keys on his key ring, assuming that he has one for his home, this building, and one for the alcohol refrigerator, he has too many keys.” Naruto supplied.
“There are pictures on the walls of every genin team to pass their exams, and they are all in groups of three, which means that they need to work together to be successful.” Hinata explained her find.
“I believe you chose this particular bar, not because it is the closest to our meeting location, but because it has that jar over there.” Shino pointed to a jar standing on a shelf behind the bar. “That is used for counting the number of successful missions the graduating gennin of the year completed before a new class graduates.”
“Since you gave us three clues, we realized that the clues weren’t random, they had to be used together.” Hinata explained.
“Which makes the answer to your test, ‘the key to success is teamwork.’” Naruto finished, shocking the jounin. She hadn’t expected her team to be so thorough in their report of their findings. A smile crept onto her face.
“Congratulations Team Eight, as of right now, you are gennin of the Leaf!”
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Chapter notes: Ok, so I realize that it might be kind of cheesy, but I wanted to put some songs in here…mainly because I could. The first song is ‘New Transmission’ by Lostprophets, the second one is Hate (I Really Don’t Like You) by Plain White T’s, and the last one was, obviously, Pretty Fly for a White Guy, by The Offspring. I’d suggest listening to them but it’s just a suggestion.
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, so please review!)